NATIONAL CHAMPION! CSU's Jonathan Hall Wins NCAA Air Rifle Individual Title

Ft. Worth, Texas -- Columbus State shooter Jonathan Hall left Columbus on Wednesday on a mission. The Carrollton native had come off an outstanding season and was the top shooter at the NCAA sectional, earning an individual spot in the 2010 NCAA Rifle Championships as an individual in the Air Rifle competition. He, and those around the CSU program, felt he had a legitimate chance to win the NCAA title.

Win it he did. And in record fashion. His winning total score of 699.9 is the highest ever in the history of the NCAA Rifle Championships.

"I came here wanting to represent CSU the best I could, and to bring the most recognition to our program and our school as I could,"  said Hall. "To tell you the truth, the only way I could think of to do that was to win the championship. Anything else just didn't seem good enough. I would have loved to have had the whole team here competing, but when that did not happen, I just wanted to do my best to bring this home for our program."

Hall started Saturday's competition by tying with Keely Stankey of Ole Miss for the highest qualifying score with a 595. Stankey shot in the first relay in the morning, while Hall was in the second relay. The top eight scoring shooters advanced to the championship final. Hall, shooting the 60-shot qualifying round, posted series scores of 98, 99, 100, 100, 98, and then closed with a 100 to post a 595 (out of a possible 600) score. He nipped Kentucky's Ashley Jackson for one point for the highest score in his relay. The score easily qualified him for the 10-shot championship round.

"I made myself nervous at the start of the qualifying round and I shouldn't have. I saw that 595 already posted from the first group and I sort of put some pressure on myself. I started a little slowly, but I calmed myself down and told myself that I had the skills and the know-how to shoot better and then I shot 100's in the next two series and that gave me a big boost. Then in my final series when I shot another 100 and the last shot was a 10.9, that had me pumped up for the final," Hall said.

In the championship, Hall's first nine shots were as near perfect as one can post. He hit shots of 10.2, 10.8, 10.8, 10.7, 10.5, 10.8, 10.2, 10.6, 10.8, 10.6, and his final shot was a 9.7 to give him a 104.9 total. Erin Lorenzen of TCU finished with a 104.4 as the next best total. When the championship and qualifying scores were added together, Hall's total of 699.9 was 2.5 points better than the next best shooter and bested the previous NCAA Championships record score of 696.4 set by Patrick Sartz of Alaska-Fairbanks in 2008. Jackson took the second-spot after she and Lorenzen tied at 697.4. The two had to shoot-off for second place and Jackson's 9.3 bested Lorenzen's 8.7 for second place. Emily Quiner of Murray State was fourth and Sarah Scherer of TCU was fifth. 

"I felt like I had a great round going and after about the sixth shot it started to sink in that I might really win this thing. Then I made myself nervous again when I had posted 10's on my first nine shots. It has always been my goal to shoot a 105 final and I knew I had a chance, but I made myself nervous and let myself think about that too much and shot a 9.7 to post that 104.9. I am not disappointed about that at all, though," he added. 

Hall becomes the first individual NCAA national champion in a sport other than golf in CSU history. Women's tennis player Janine Perkinson won the NAIA singles title in 1987, joining Hall and several golfers over the years as individual champions.  The fact that Hall accomplished the feat in the school's first year to compete is even more impressive. 

Hall's title caps off a remarkable first season for the CSU rifle program. The Cougars performed beyond the expectations of most people, immediately making a name for themselves as a competitive program. CSU won the Smallbore and Air competitions at the NCAA Sectional at the Citadel but the team's overall scores were not quite high enough to get into the NCAA Championships as a team. Hall, as the top shooter at the Sectional, earned a spot in the championship and made the most of it. 

"Our shooters made a name for our program by the way they performed all year. When we got here, people knew who we were even though our team did not get into the final eight. But Jon winning this championship brings a validity to our program at CSU that is unmatched by anything else. It gives our team a motivational tool for next season and an example to follow. Our goal is to be in this championship as a team next year and to try and bring home a team title," said CSU head coach Mike Greene. 

In addition to Hall's title on Saturday, TCU won both the Air Rifle and overall titles. Alaska-Fairbanks won the Smallbore title on Friday and finished second to TCU in the overall standings. West Virginia finished third. 

(Below photo by Michael Clements - NCAA Photos)