Launi Meili

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Hometown: Spokane, Wash. Last College: Idaho, 2001 Position: Head Coach

The Air Force Academy head coach Launi Meili (pronounced LAW-nee MY-lee) is in her fourth year with the rifle team. Meili comes to the Academy from Nebraska, where she coached for five years.

Meili led the all-women Cornhuskers to a No. 2 national ranking in the 2004-05 season. The team finished fifth at the NCAA championships in 2007. She has coached 21 All-Americans, an NCAA individual champion and placed seven women on the U.S. Development team. In addition, Meili led Nebraska to a pair of Great American Rifle Conference championships while earning coach of the year honors in 2006.

"Coach Meili brings a wealth of experience as not only a proven NCAA Division I head coach, but a world-class competitor as well," said Associate Athletics Director for Programs Col. Billy Walker. "We were very impressed with her understanding of the Academy and our mission to produce leaders of character and how intercollegiate athletics contributes to that mission. I'm quite certain Coach Meili will develop us into one of the elite programs in the country."

As a shooting competitor, Meili shot for the U.S. Shooting team for 10 years. In that time, Meili participated in two Olympic Games, two Pan American games and a World Championship. During her career, she produced three world records, three Olympic records, a world team championship and the Olympic Gold medal in Barcelona in 1992, becoming the only American woman to ever win gold in smallbore.

She also placed 11th in air rifle in Barcelona after finishing sixth in air rifle and seventh in three-position rifle at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul. She remains the only woman to compete in both events at two Olympics. Meili is also a seven-time national champion in three-position rifle, setting three world shooting records and numerous national records in her outstanding shooting career.

After retiring from competitive shooting in 1992, Meili spent 10 years coaching junior and elite level shooters and instructing athletes at shooting clinics and camps nationwide. She served as assistant coach for the U.S. National Rifle Team from 1997 to 2000 and is a member of the USA Shooting Board of Directors. Meili helped produce the International Coach Certification Program, the highest level of coaching credential recognized by USA Shooting and the National Rifle Association. During the 2004-05 season, Meili was recognized for her outstanding achievement to the sport by being inducted into the International Shooting Hall of Fame.

Meili earned her master's degree in sports psychology from the University of Idaho in 2001. She also holds a bachelor's degree in nutrition and exercise physiology from Eastern Washington University. She has written Rifle: Steps to Success, published by Human Kinetics in 2008. She has also created the "mental training workshop" taught to athletes, coaches, and business personnel in the US and Japan.

A native of Spokane, Wash., Meili and her husband, Kevin Geddes, have a four-year-old son, Bryce Owen.

"I am thrilled to be the rifle coach at the Air Force Academy. With the excellence in academics, athletics and student body, there are so many positive factors readily available to move this program onto the national level in the next couple of years," Meili said. "My goals are to build a solid foundation with the returning team members and the new recruits to maximize the talent and resources we have at the AFA. From there, recruiting additional motivated and experienced shooters will be a high priority. I have always been impressed with the cadets when we've competed with them in the past, and am now proud to coach them into the future."

Coaching Credentials

2006 Great America Rifle Conference Coach of the Year

U.S. National Team Assistant Coach (1997-2000)

Member of USA Shooting Board of Directors

NCAA Men's and Women's Rifle Committee (2003-07)

Inducted into the International Shooting Hall of Fame, EWU Athletic Hall of Fame,

Inland Empire Hall of Fame

Creator of International Coach Certification program

Author of Rifle: Steps to Success, Human Kinetics, 2008

Junior and Elite level coach

Athletic Background

1992 Olympic Gold Medalist in Three-Position Smallbore Rifle (Barcelona)

Placed sixth (air rifle) and seventh (three-position rifle), 1988 Olympics (Seoul)

Seven-time National Champion in Three-Position Rifle

Set three Olympic, three world records and numerous national records

Eastern Washington University Rifle Team (1982-85)

EWU Outstanding Student of the Year (1984)

NRA All-American in Air Rifle (1984-1985)

NRA All-American in Smallbore Rifle (1985)