West Virginia’s basketball team beat No. 1 Kansas last Tuesday and someone handed Jon Holton, and we were all distracted. Well, not all of us, because the rifle team was focused.

After a six-week break that bridged the changing semesters, the three-time defending national champs went out Tuesday, polished their No. 1 ranking, beat No. 5 Alaska-Fairbanks and — oh, that’s right — set an NCAA record for aggregate score.

 “It was a special day,” coach Jon Hammond said. “We had a great performance and a lot of super individual efforts, but overall, we had a really good team performance. I think they were really focused on the right things today.

“They weren’t focused on the score or the outcome of the match. They were able just go in and work on their performances, and it was an all-around team effort to produce that kind of result.”

I never covered it here, and I was kicking myself. How often are you gonna see an NCAA record, Mike?

Twice, is the answer. At least. WVU did it again Sunday.

“Today was another incredible performance from the team,” coach Jon Hammond noted. “I don’t know if any of us thought that a 4740 score was possible. I am really proud of the team with how hard they have worked and how hard they have focused since they came back from break.

“Ultimately, it was another true team performance. We did have some more personal bests, but everyone shot incredibly well. It was a great team effort, and for the team to set a new national record in both air rifle and smallbore is another incredible result.”

A trio of Mountaineers set career-high scores in smallbore, with senior Meelis Kiisk (198 kneeling, 200 prone, 192 standing), senior Michael Bamsey (196 kneeling, 199 prone, 193 standing) and freshman William Anti (192 kneeling, 198 prone, 194 kneeling) each shooting a 590, 588 and 584 mark, respectively.

“Will (Anti) had an incredible performance in smallbore for a career-high, and Meelis (Kiisk) shot an incredible 590 in smallbore,” Hammond stated. “590 is an incredibly hard score to shoot, but he was inching closer and closer to that mark just like all the others are.”