MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Eight shooters from the West Virginia rifle team earned a combined 21 National Rifle Association and College Rifle Coaches Association All-America honors over the weekend.
“I’m really proud of the team this year and seeing eight of them receive All-America honors is a huge testament to the depth of the team,” WVU coach Jon Hammond said. “They all pushed each other to get better, which is what good teams do, and this is a nice reward for all their hard work. It’s been awhile since we’ve had this many All-Americans, and that shows great promise to the future of this team.”
Senior Milica Babic was the only WVU shooter named to all three first teams. Babic, a native of Belgrade, Serbia, was named to the NRA All-America First Team Smallbore and Air Rifle squads. She also was named to the CRCA All-America First Team. Babic graduates from WVU with 11 All-America awards; all but three honors were first-team accolades.
Junior David Koenders pushed his career total to nine with this season’s awards. Koenders was named to the NRA All-America First Team Air Rifle and Second Team Smallbore, as well as the CRCA All-America Second Team.
Senior Morgan Phillips landed on the NRA All-America First Team Smallbore list, while sophomore Verena Zaisberger and freshman Akihito Shimizu garnered their first career accolades with NRA All-America First Team Air Rifle recognition. Phillips also was named to the CRCA All-America Third Team and finished her four-year career with eight All-America honors.
Shimizu collected two additional awards in his first season as a Mountaineer and earned NRA All-America Second Team Smallbore and CRCA All-America Second Team honors. Zaisberger also was named to the CRCA All-America Honorable Mention.
Junior Sarah Osborn increased her career collection to five. Osborn was named to the NRA All-America Second Team Smallbore and Air Rifle squads, as well as the CRCA All-America Third Team.
Sophomore Jared Eddy landed on the NRA All-America Second Team Air Rifle and Honorable Mention Smallbore. He also was named to the CRCA All-America Honorable Mention.
Freshman Malori Brown garnered her first career accolades and was named to the NRA All-America Second Team Smallbore and the CRCA All-America Honorable Mention.
Additionally, eight Mountaineers claimed CRCA Scholastic All-America honors: freshman Calista Smoyer, Babic, Phillips, Koenders, Osborn, Eddy, Zaisberger and Brown.
