FORT BENNING, Ga. – Just a few weeks after qualifying for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, NC State’s Lucas Kozeniesky continues to scale new heights for the Wolfpack rifle team.
The rising senior turned in the top overall score in the 10m men’s air rifle competition to win the 2016 USA Shooting National Championship on Tuesday, becoming the first Wolfpack shooter to ever win a national USA Shooting title.
“The focus of the event was to have another solid training for the Olympics later this summer with the same kind of match pressure that you can’t simulate anywhere else,” Kozenieksy said. “I was able to find some things that I need to work on and learn more about what I need to do to get ready for Rio. I applied the things I learned in qualification to put together a strong performance in the finals to finish first overall.”
The Fairfax Station, Va., native charted a score of 620.9 on the first day of qualification and a total of 624.7 on the second day to take a score of 1245.6 into the finals session. Kozeniesky added seven points to his cumulative total thanks to a second-place finish in the finals to claim the gold medal (1252.6).
Kozeniesky’s teammate on the USA Team for the Olympics, Daniel Lowe, won the finals session but was edged for the championship by one point with a score of 1251.6.
The Wolfpack shooter also competed in the smallbore rifle event, firing a strong score of 2327, the top mark among collegiate shooters and fourth overall, after not training in the gun for a few weeks in preparation for the Olympics in air rifle.
Full results for all NC State competitors at the event are available on GoPack.com.
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