From TCU 2009 National Rifle Championship Award Ceremony

To answer some of the e-mails NRAblog.com has received, yes, that was a full Scottish outfit West Virginia University rifle coach Jon Hammond was sporting last night. Hammond poses above with the Texas Christian University rifle team.

And no, NRAblog.com did not get the chance to ask a few questions or inquire as to his eligibility.

Hammond and his troops shuffled out of the banquet as NRAblog.com was interviewing Jenna Compton and others, but the West Virginia sports website has a great overview of Hammond's expectations and reaction to his team’s championship:

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia University rifle coach Jon Hammond went into this year’s NCAA championships hoping for a top-three finish. But after his team’s dismal performance on Friday, his expectations were lowered considerably.

“We had a terrible day (Friday),” said Hammond, his Scottish accent unable to disguise his disappointment.

… “(Saturday) was crazy. At one point it looked like Kentucky had it locked up and then suddenly Jacksonville looked good,” he said. “Alaska started coming back into it and I think it’s going to be like that many years into the future now.”

What got West Virginia back into contention was a really strong performance in the first relay. That put Tommy Santelli and Bryant Wallizer into position to close it out at the end.

“We were 20-22 points down on Jacksonville and Kentucky and after the first relay we made up so much ground and I realized, ‘Wow, we’re actually back in this.’ We jumped up to third and we were within five or six points with the last two to shoot, which were Tom and Bryant,” Hammond said.

“Suddenly I got really nervous again and it was incredible. Sometimes it’s a painful experience for the coaches watching the scores come forward and you are really powerless to do anything. Our kids finished and it came down to the last 10 shots for the other team to finish up,” Hammond said. “Fortunately we ended up on top at the end. It was an exciting finish.”

When Hammond felt the excitement about to overcome him he did what all successful rifle coaches do – he got away from his team.

“When we made up all of those points I didn&srquo;t want the next two guys to know that so it was a case of having to calm down a little bit and get ready to shoot their match,” Hammond said. “They didn’t want to know what the scores were and so they weren’t really aware of it and just concentrated on themselves.”

Making this year’s title even more satisfying was the fact that West Virginia finally defeated Kentucky. The Mountaineers lost a head-to-head match with the Wildcats earlier this year in Lexington, and also finished second to Kentucky at the conference championships.

“Even though we lost to them, our scores were comparable,” Hammond said.

Read the entire article here.