2021-22 Season Review

2021-22

SEASON REVIEW

RIFLE 12-1, 7-1 Great American Rifle Conference (T-1st)

• West Virginia finished with a 12-1 record, including a 7-1 mark inside the Great

American Rifle Conference (GARC). • The Mountaineers finished the season by capturing a share of the 2021-22 GARC regularseason title, along with Kentucky, marking the second consecutive season that WVU has brought home the regular-season crown. • During the regular season, West Virginia defeated eight top-10 opponents, including two top-five teams. • WVU also won 10 or more matches for the 12th time under coach Jon Hammond, who improved his career record to 169-17 (.908) in 2021-22. • Against TCU on Nov. 6, sophomore

Molly McGhin became the sixth shooter in program history to shoot a perfect 600 in air rifle. The mark also tied the school and NCAA record in the relay. • The Mountaineers shot an NCAA Qualifying

Score of 9441, which helped them earn their 14th consecutive bid to the NCAA

Rifle Championships. WVU entered the field as the sixth-ranked team. • At the 201-22 GARC Championships, hosted by

Army, West Virginia shot a 2345 smallbore and a 2387 in air rifle for a combined score of 4732 to finish second at this year’s championships. • Prior to the GARC Championships, nine

Mountaineer shooters earned a combined 25 honors on this year’s All-GARC teams. • Of WVU’s 25 All-GARC honors this year, eight student-athletes made the smallbore team, seven made the air rifle team and eight were a part of the combined (smallbore and air rifle) team. • Additionally, freshman Natalie Perrin was named the GARC’s Rookie of the Year, after averaging scores of 582.5 in smallbore, 593 in air rifle and 1175.5 overall in 2021-22. • The Coopersville, Michigan, native is the first Mountaineer to win GARC Rookie of the Year since Milica Babic in 2017 and the eighth in program history. • Senior Verena Zaisberger represented West

Virginia in the GARC’s Scholar-Athlete category for the second consecutive season. • Zaisberger also received her second NCAA

Elite 90 Award for Division I Rifle, the sport’s top academic honor, in 2021-22. • The Hohenems, Austria, native joins Elizabeth

Gratz, who took home the honor in 2017 and 2018, as the second different shooter in program history to receive the Elite 90 Award twice. • Zaisberger also was one of 19 Mountaineers and 168 Big 12 Conference student-athletes to be recognized with the 2022 Dr. Gerald

Lage Academic Achievement Award – the

Big 12’s highest academic honor. • The Mountaineers concluded their season by shooting a 4700 at the 2022 NCAA

Rifle Championships, hosted by Air Force, and finished sixth at the event. • WVU’s 2380 in air rifle at the NCAA

Championships were good for second place in the discipline. • Following the season, eight student-athletes took home 15 combined All-America honors from the Collegiate Rifle Coaches Association, including sophomore Tal Engler, McGhin and junior Akihito Shimizu, who each made an appearance on all three teams. • Seven student-athletes were selected to the 2022 Academic All-Big 12 At-Large First Team, including Zaisberger, who was one of three student-athletes on the conference-wide list to earn a 4.0 grade-point average (GPA). • Additionally, eight shooters were named to the Collegiate Rifle Coaches Association’s (CRCA) Scholastic All-America Team, tied for the most in program history. • To close out the year, Zaisberger was named to the 2021-22 Academic All-District II

Women’s At-Large First Team by the College

Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA), before being selected to the 2021-22 CoSIDA Academic All-America

Division I Women’s At-Large First Team. • Zaisberger also was selected to receive the

Dr. Prentice Gautt Postgraduate Scholarship from the Big 12 Conference at year’s end.

AKIHITO SHIMIZU

TAL ENGLER

MALORI BROWN

• CRCA All-America Second Team (Smallbore) • All-GARC Second Team (Smallbore) • All-GARC Honorable Mention (Combined) • CRCA Scholastic All-America Team • Academic All-Big 12 At-Large First Team

JARED EDDY

• CRCA All-America Second Team (Smallbore) • All-GARC Honorable Mention (Smallbore) • CRCA Scholastic All-America Team • Academic All-Big 12 At-Large First Team

TAL ENGLER

• CRCA All-America Second Team (Smallbore, Air Rifle) • CRCA All-America Third Team (Aggregate) • All-GARC First Team (Smallbore,

Air Rifle, Combined) • CRCA Scholastic All-America Team • Academic All-Big 12 At-Large First Team

BECCA LAMB

• CRCA Scholastic All-America Team • Academic All-Big 12 At-Large First Team

MOLLY MCGHIN

• CRCA All-America Honorable Mention (Aggregate, Smallbore, Air Rifle) • All-GARC Second Team (Smallbore,

Air Rifle, Combined) • CRCA Scholastic All-America Team • Academic All-Big 12 At-Large First Team

NATALIE PERRIN

• GARC Rookie of the Year • CRCA All-America Honorable Mention (Air Rifle) • All-GARC Second Team (Air Rifle) • All-GARC Honorable Mention (Smallbore, Combined) • CRCA Scholastic All-America Team

MATT SANCHEZ

• All-GARC Honorable Mention (Smallbore, Air Rifle, Combined)

AKIHITO SHIMIZU

• CRCA All-America Second Team (Smallbore, Air Rifle) • CRCA All-America Third Team (Aggregate) • All-GARC Second Team (Smallbore,

Air Rifle, Combined)

CALISTA SMOYER

• CRCA All-America Honorable Mention (Air Rifle) • All-GARC First Team (Air Rifle) • All-GARC Honorable Mention (Combined) • CRCA Scholastic All-America Team • Academic All-Big 12 At-Large First Team

VERENA ZAISBERGER

• NCAA Elite 90 Award • CoSIDA Academic All-America Division

I Women’s At-Large First Team • CoSIDA Academic All-District II

Women’s At-Large First Team • Dr. Gerald Lage Academic Achievement Award • Dr. Prentice Gautt Postgraduate

Scholarship Recipient • CRCA Scholastic All-America Team • GARC Scholar-Athlete (WVU) • CRCA All-America Second Team (Smallbore) • CRCA All-America Honorable

Mention (Aggregate) • All-GARC Second Team (Smallbore, Combined) • All-GARC Honorable Mention (Air Rifle) • Academic All-Big 12 At-Large First Team