MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Sophomore shooter Jen Pason posted a match-high 592 air rifle score to boost the Kentucky rifle team to a 4647-4616 win over the host West Virginia Mountaineers, on Saturday afternoon in Morgantown, W. Va.
Kentucky (7-0, 4-0 Great American Rifle Conference) found itself in a slugfest with West Virginia, as the Mountaineers tied UK in smallbore with a 2300 score. UK rebounded with a 2347-2316 win in air rifle, securing the match behind the heroics of Pason.
?The team held together well today,? Kentucky head coach Harry Mullins said. ?Normally we make our points in smallbore and today we had to make our money in air rifle. We showed ourselves that we can shoot a solid air gun score if we get all our shooters to click at the same time.?
While Pason led the way for UK in air rifle, Tom Csenge posted a team-best 580 smallbore score, with Andrew Roland (576), Pason (572), and Ray Geyer (572) rounding out the smallbore lineup. Csenge and Geyer each tallied a 587 air rifle score, and Ashley Jackson posted a solid 585 in air gun. Csenge tied for the highest combined score recorded in the match, a 1167, short of his personal-best 1181 recorded earlier this season.
?I feel that we did a great job of keeping the wheels on the bus today,? Kentucky?s senior co-captain Geyer said. ?After mediocre performances by everyone in smallbore, we got our heads in the game and went to work on air gun. Everyone turned in a solid performance and drove home the win.?
?Overall, you have to be happy with a win, especially considering WVU is a very strong and up-and coming program,? Mullins said. ?This match is always very close and there is something about it that brings out the pressure among the two schools. We will see West Virginia again at the conference championships and they are certainly on pace to finish in the top eight at NCAAs.
?This make us 4-0 in conference and kind of sets us up for a difficult stretch run, including a crucial match with Army. We really had some sparks of great scores from the White team and some from the Blue team today. Logan [Fox] had a personal best in air rifle with a 586 and Ashley [Jackson] had a 577 in smallbore. If we work hard this week, we can put ourselves in a position to end the fall semester on a high note.?
Player Quotes
Ray Geyer, Sr.
On the team?s greatest strength of today?s win over WVU ?
?I feel that we did a great job of keeping the wheels on the bus today. After mediocre performances by everyone in smallbore, we got our heads in the game and went to work on air gun. Everyone turned in a solid performance and drove home the win.?
Jen Pason, So.
On the team?s performance ?
?Our greatest strength today was acknowledging a weakness and fixing it. I saw a lot of people taking breaks, sitting down and reworking the shot calmly. Though some aspects of today were frustrating, we approach the challenges with calm and control, something that had been developed in training and now surfacing in competition when we need it most.?
Tom Csenge, So.
On not achieving his individual match goals ?
?Today?s match did not go as well as I wanted overall, but I did have a good prone [199], which is something that I have been working on a lot in practice. So I am pleased with that. This match showed me what I need to work on this week in practice to continue on my goal path.?
Leslie Angeli, So.
On what worked in the match vs. WVU ?
?I think today helped me to bridge the gap between practice and match days. I felt like I was in more of a focused but relaxed mindset, whereas sometimes I become very nervous during matches. This match showed me that I need to work on more endurance to be able to go from smallbore to air rifle and be strong throughout.?
Andrew Roland, Jr.
On what worked for him individually today ?
?I have personally been working a lot on match intensity. After today, I can see what intensity range I need to be in for each position. Usually, I start the match out very well. Today, in both guns, I started out well below average. I regrouped and made the best of it however. This showed me that I can always recover, but it also gave me a much better idea of what mood I compete best in. From now on, I am going to be training and competing with a little more mental intensity from the start.?
Sarah Broeker, Fr.
On what she learned from the match ?
?Although things didn?t go as well as I wanted them to today, I learned a lot about myself. Taking breaks and focusing on things that were going well helped me get my head back in the game. I will take the things that I struggled with today back to practice and work on them to improve.?
Ashley Jackson, So.
On her thoughts after the match ?
?Today was full of new experiences. For the first time this season I shot on the later relay and for the first time this season I had the opportunity to bring myself back from a week of hard times. It was nice to know that despite the hard work I had to put into the match, the team was behind me all the way, even after I fell short of my personal expectations. We have an amazing support system going and it is going to help us greatly in maintaining high scores which will be hard for other teams to recon with?
Logan Fox, Fr.
On his personal best in air rifle ?
?It was a good feeling to shot a personal best in air rifle. I finally felt like I was shooting up to my potential and the numbers I know I am capable of producing. It was hard work but worth the effort and I hope to see more scores like that in my future.? Clint Sejkora, Fr.
On his performance in the match ?
?For the past week I really focused on standing and kneeling in smallbore. With help from teammates I came up with a new approach for each of my standing shots, that really paid off today with a 188. My kneeling still isn?t as strong was I want, so it looks like I have this week planned for practice, before the next week?s match.?
Jake Savitts, Sr.
On what makes this rifle squad a good team ?
?This is a great team because we are ten people deep. We could loose half our team and still be a great team. The team makes every one feel just as important as the number one kid on the team.?
