University of Virginia Library

Shooters Place In Nationals,
Three Hailed As All-American

The University of Virginia Pistol
Team has taken Second and Third
Places respectively in the 1971
Intercollegiate Conventional and
International Pistol Championships.
The Virginia team broke into the
award-winning places, traditionally
dominated by the powerful U.S.
service academies, to win the
highest overall national ranking of
any civilian college or university in
recent years. All four members of
the U.Va. team, George
Duckworth, Eric Helvestine,
Preston Hewitt, and Dave Smathers,
were nominated for the 1971
Collegiate All-American Pistol
Team selections, the highest
individual distinction in
Intercollegiate competition. It has
just been verified that Duckworth
and Smathers have been chosen for
the All-American First Team of ten
shooters, and Hewitt has been
included in the All-American
Second Team. With a total of three
members selected for these awards,
the Cavalier team has the greatest
number of All-Americans selected
from any civilian school in recent
years.

In the Conventional matches,
which consisted of Slow, Timed,
and Rapid Fire on standard
American targets, the Virginia team
knocked out high-ranked Air Force
and Army, plus about 40 other
college teams around the nation,
with 1128 out of 1200 points to
take a tight Second Place to Navy's
1131. In the International-style
matches, consisting of precision
slow fire on reduced-size
international targets, the Cavalier
gunners sank Navy and other
opposition with 992 out of 1200 to
nail down Third Place after Air
Force and Army tied with 1004
each.

In individual competition, Dave
Smathers won a National Silver
Medal for Fourth Place in the
International match, firing 260 out
of 300 points with a High-Standard
.22-caliber target pistol. Team
Captain George Duckworth won
two National Silver Medals for
Third Places in both the
Conventional and International
team trophies and all three of the
top-place individual awards. As a
result of these outstanding
performances, the U.Va. Pistol
Team has been extended the
extraordinary honor of an
invitation to attend the 11th U.S.
International Championships and
Pan American Team Final Tryouts
at Phoenix, Arizona, May 18-30.

The U.Va. Rifle & Pistol Club
has concluded training for this year,
but will conduct Basic Pistol
Marksmanship Training Courses
next fall for any interested student.