By Chris Coombs
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia University rifle coach Jon Hammond has announced that Gavin Barnick has signed an Athletic Grant-In-Aid for the 2023-24 academic year.
“I am delighted to welcome Gavin to the Mountaineer family, and I hope we can provide a wonderful home for him during the next two years,” Hammond said. “He has a lot of experience and has been competing for USA this summer including the World Junior Championships in Korea at the moment. He will be a great addition to our team and were excited to start working with him on the range this fall.”
Barnick comes to WVU after spending his first two collegiate seasons with Alaska-Fairbanks. There he helped guide the Nanooks to the 2022-23 NCAA National Championship and a third-place finish at the same event a year earlier.
Last season the then-sophomore posted an aggregate score of 1187 twice which marked his season high. He added season highs of 592 in smallbore while hitting a high of 597 in air rifle twice.
Internationally, Barnick managed gold at the 2022 ISSF World Championships in the Junior Men’s 50m Rifle 3 Position Team. He added a silver at the 2022 Winter Air Gun Championships in the Men’s 10m Air Rifle while earning bronze at the 2022 USA Shooting Rifle National Championships in the Junior Men’s 50m Smallbore.
He took home bronze at the 2021 ISSF JR World Championships in the Men’s 50m Smallbore Team, Mixed Team 50m Prone and the Men’s 50m Smallbore. He added a silver medal at the 2021 JR Pan American Games. Before his collegiate career, he claimed a silver medal at the 2019 USA Shooting Rifle National Championships in the Junior Men’s Air Rifle class.
