The VMI rifle program continued to ascend in 2024–25, smashing multiple team records throughout the season and qualifying two shooters for the Junior Olympic Rifle National Championship.
As a result, for the second consecutive year, Lt. Col. Bill Bither was named the Southern Conference Coach of the Year.
Season Highlights
- Bither was named Southern Conference Coach of the Year after the mixed team placed fourth and the women’s team placed fifth.
- Women’s program broke its own aggregate record—of 4498 entering the season—three times, with a team-best 4563 against Wofford College.
- Mixed rifle had victories over The Citadel, Wofford, John Jay College, and University of Alabama at Birmingham, ranking in the top 20 twice.
- The program competed against a number of nationally ranked programs, including national champion Texas Christian University twice.
- Women’s rifle topped Wofford, John Jay, and UAB.
- Mixed team posted a season-high aggregate score of 4591 versus No. 2 Georgia Southern University.
- Christopher Hicks ’24 and Ryan Harlow ’25 placed 1-2 against UAB, and Darian Tweedell ’27 won air rifle.
- Alexander Pohlman ’28 placed eighth in air rifle at the Southern Conference Championships.
- Tweedell claimed the Virginia State Junior Olympic Championship in smallbore, earning a bid to the Junior Olympic Rifle National Championship in April.
- Kyle Kemp ’27 also qualified for the JOC in smallbore.
