Air Force Academy

June 1, 2004

The most valuable marksmanship-rifle award winner, C3C Christopher Hill is a second team All-American after competing in the 2004 NCAA Rifle Championships at Murray State University. Hill finished in 13th place in the smallbore, firing a 396 prone, 368 standing and 391 in the kneeling positions. Hill finished with an aggregate 1155. Hill is the Academy's first All-American in rifle since Erin Brewer in 1997.

The rifle team concluded the season finishing 13th in the nation, one marksman earned All-American second team, 4-13 overall, and two were selected to the 2004 Olympic Trials.

In November, the Air Force team competed in the Presidents Cup, hosted by Navy. Navy was the favorite going into the tournament and reaffirmed their position as one of the top 10 schools in the nation. Air Force finished third in the tournament. Navy had a 7729 aggregate, Army posted a 7639, Air Force a 7476 and Coast Guard shot a 7461.

In the first ever NCAA rifle competition on electronic target records fell everywhere. The Falcons hosted a round robin set of matches with Alaska Fairbanks, UTEP and Nebraska. Every school had multiple team and personal records fall as the sport experienced what would prove to be the future of college rifle shooting. In the series of matches, Air Force went 0-3 against what are proving to be three of the top teams in the nation.

Air Force joined the record-setting trend while unfortunately falling to Alaska and Nebraska. C3C Chris Hill was the highest Falcon with a personal record and school record of 1179/1200, downing the previous school record of 1178 set by Robin Orth, class of 1996. On the way to the record 1179, Hill shot a 399 prone, 381 standing and a school record 399 in kneeling. Team captain, senior Jason Waldow shot an 1145/1200, which was also his personal best. Sophomore Tim Siemer missed his personal best of 1152/1200 when he shot an 1143/1200. Both Hill and Siemer went on to compete in the 2004 Olympic Trials. Results from the trials were not yet available.