The University of Akron Athletics
Akron Rifle's Chezem Invited to NCAA Championship
February 26 | Rifle
INDIANAPOLIS — Akron junior Matt Chezem (Simi Valley, Calif.) has been invited to compete in the 2015 NCAA Rifle Championship on March 13-14 at the UAF Patty Center in Fairbanks, Alaska. Action begins at 8 a.m. each day (local time).
Chezem will compete as an individual in air rifle.
As a team, the Zips finished the year ranked No. 14 in scoring. The NCAA takes the top eight teams (based on season averages) plus the top four competitors in both the smallbore and air rifle (based on NCAA Qualifier scores) to field the championship with 48 competitors.
Chezem has been the top Zip all season. Chezem re-wrote three school records at Navy on Oct. 4. He broke the record in smallbore with a 200-19 (previous record was 200-17 from 2012). He earned top gun honors with a record score of 584 (previous record was 581 from 2013). In rifle, Chezem scored a 595 out of a possible 600 points (the previous record was 590 by Akron's NCAA air rifle national champion Jenna Compton from 2009).
Last weekend, Chezem led the Zips to their second consecutive Western Intercollegiate Rifle Conference (WIRC) Championship with top gun honors in the smallbore with a 579.
Additionally, Chezem competed with Team USA at the 2014 Championship of the Americas in October. The international completion was the first for Chezem. He has been a member of the USA national development team for a couple of years.
Akron competes in the Great America Rifle Conference (GARC) Championship on Feb. 27 to March 1 in Oxford, Miss.
