By Ashley Conley TheDAOnline.com
Last weekend, the West Virginia rifle team won its third-straight NCAA Championship, bumping the NCAA record for most titles in collegiate history up to 17. In addition, thanks to the expertise and accuracy of Maren Prediger, West Virginia also claimed its 23rd individual NCAA rifle title.
At the 2014 NCAA rifle championships, Prediger had the individual air rifle title at her fingertips, but it slipped away by just four-tenths of a point. She wasn't about to end her successful senior season on the same note.
At this season's NCAA Championship, she paced the team in the air rifle relay with a near-perfect score of 598 (100-100-99-100-100-99), which put her in first place for the individual air rifle final.
In the final, Prediger shot a solid score of 205.8, which earned her the Air Rifle Individual Championship title. Teammate Michael Bamsey came in second in the final with a score of 200.6. Not far behind was fellow Mountaineer Garrett Spurgeon, who claimed third place with a 182.8 score. Ziva Dvorsak also competed in the final and finished in sixth place.
Prediger's impeccable showing at the NCAA Championship also earned her the title of Varsity Sports Report Athlete of the Week at West Virginia University. She became the 17th Mountaineer (23 total) to win an NCAA individual title at the rifle championships.
"It was awesome because last year I didn't quite do it," Prediger said. "I got second, and I was really frustrated by my last shot because it would have been really easy. I didn't have it in my mind, which really surprises me. You have to start over at some point and you have to work on this year," Prediger told newsminer.com in Alaska following the victory.
In the smallbore relay, Prediger also shot well with a score of 572 on day one of the two-day competition. Although the Mountaineers were in second at the end of day one, the air rifle relays, particularly Prediger's, allowed the team to take over first place. Alaska Fairbanks finished in second overall with an aggregate score of 4700, just two points behind West Virginia with 4702. TCU came in third, followed by Nebraska and Jacksonville St., in fourth and fifth, respectively.
Maren Prediger has been a part of three NCAA titles for the Mountaineers. As a sophomore, junior and now as a senior, Prediger has been a significant part of the competitive forte in which Coach Jon Hammond's team always bestows.
Although her time on the Mountaineer rifle team has come to an end, she will remain at West Virginia University to complete her schooling goals. Prediger ends her college career as one of the most decorated air rifle shooters in school history, with three NCAA Championships, one individual NCAA Championship, multiple NRA All-American First Team Air Rifle and All-GARC First Team Air Rifle awards, as well as a plethora of academic honors including CRCA All-Academic Team, Academic All-Big 12 At-Large Team and GARC Scholar Athlete awards.
The rifle team will participate in a fan celebration at the WVU Coliseum today at 5 p.m. in room 172. The five shooters who participated at the championship as well as other members of the team will be there to speak with fans and take photos. Fans will also be allowed to take photos with West Virginia's 17th NCAA Championship trophy.
This post was edited on 3/17 5:21 PM by WVU82
