Kentucky Rifle Announces 2024-25 Schedule
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The 2024-25 University of Kentucky rifle competition schedule has been released and for the second time in program history the Wildcats will host the NCAA Rifle Championships to cap the season in Historic Memorial Coliseum.
Kentucky, which has won three of the last six NCAA Championships with team titles in 2018, 2021 and 2022, is set to compete all over the nation this season. After a competitive schedule from October to February, the Wildcats will compete in the Great America Rifle Conference Championships in late February and hope to qualify for their 31st NCAA Championship appearance in March. The season will end inside Historic Memorial Coliseum as the Wildcats host the championships for the second time in program history. The first was in 2020 when UK turned Memorial Coliseum into a first-class range before the NCAA canceled the championship after Thursday’s practice day due to the threat of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Excited to have our competition schedule released and obviously we are looking forward to host the NCAA Championships in March inside Memorial Coliseum,” said head coach Harry Mullins, who is entering his 37th season with the program. “The release of the schedule always means that we are close to getting the athletes back on campus and training is right around the corner. This is a challenging schedule with a lot of quality teams both home and away. Like always, Coach Papasodora and I will focus on getting the athletes better each and every day with the goal that we are competing at our best at the end of the year. We are looking forward to having some new faces in this group and get going here soon.”
The 2024-25 season will begin Oct. 5 as the Wildcats host in-state rival Morehead State before hitting the road the following weekend for a dual match at Georgia Southern on Oct. 12. Kentucky returns home on Oct. 26 for a tri-match with Navy and North Georgia before its annual dual match with Ole Miss, which will be Nov. 2 in Oxford, Mississippi. After a week off, UK wraps the fall portion of the schedule with three competitions across eight days starting with a home tri-match with Army and Murray State on Nov. 16. The following weekend UK travels to Colorado Springs, Colorado for two matches beginning Nov. 23 vs. Akron and ending Nov. 24 vs. Air Force and Akron.
UK athletes will compete individually in several national competitions in December before the team returns to campus in early January to gear up for the 2025 schedule. The final portion of the schedule begins Jan. 12 with a home match vs. Georgia Southern. Following that home match, UK begins a tough stretch on the road starting Jan. 19 and Jan. 20 in Murray, Kentucky. On the 19th, Kentucky will compete in the annual Withrow Invitational and then compete against Memphis in a dual match the following day at the neutral site. UK will travel to Dahlonega, Georgia for a dual match at North Georgia on Jan. 26 and then will fly cross country to Fairbanks, Alaska for two matches against UAF on Jan. 31 and Feb. 1. Kentucky returns to Lexington to wrap its 2025 regular-season schedule on Feb. 8 against West Virginia.
Postseason competition will have extra excitement for Kentucky in 2025 as the Wildcats will host the 2025 NCAA Rifle Championships inside the newly renovated Historic Memorial Coliseum. UK will host a NCAA Qualifier on Feb. 22 inside Barker Hall with Morehead State before traveling to Morgantown, West Virginia for the Great America Rifle Conference Championships on March 1-2.
The NCAA Rifle Championships return to Lexington for the first time since 2020. The two-day event will see the best air rifle and smallbore competitors in the nation compete on the historic Memorial Coliseum floor. The smallbore competition will be March 14 followed by air rifle competition on March 15. Ticket information and full schedule of events for the championships will be announced later.
All home matches will be held inside the UK Rifle Range, which is inside Barker Hall. Matches normally follow a similar schedule with sighting and prep for smallbore beginning at 8 a.m. ET. Spectators are invited to watch smallbore scores up in Barker Hall and enjoy free breakfast during the first part of the relay. The range will be open to spectators for air rifle. Admission to all home matches is free.
Kentucky is coming off a strong 2023-24 season that saw the Wildcats finish third nationally in smallbore and air rifle for a fourth-place team finish at the 2024 NCAA Rifle Championships. The Wildcats finished second overall at the 2024 GARC Championships and posted an impressive 4745 season-high team score at Alaska during the season.
The Wildcats will return two Collegiate Rifle Coaches Association All-America honorees to its 2024-25 roster in junior Sofia Ceccarello and sophomore Braden Peiser. Ceccarello was named first-team CRCA All-America in aggregate, smallbore and air rifle last season while Peiser was second-team All-America in air rifle. Both had incredible seasons for Kentucky with Ceccarello leading Kentucky in smallbore, air rifle and aggregate average. The Italian superstar posted a 590 or higher three times in smallbore last season while she led the nation with five 599 air rifle scores. Ceccarello made two individual finals during the year, finishing fifth in both the GARC air rifle final and NCAA smallbore final. She was also an All-GARC performer during the 2023-24 season.
Peiser had a great rookie season for Kentucky, finishing second on the team in smallbore, air rifle and aggregate average. Peiser really shined late in the season, posting and then besting career high marks in all three categories in the final three matches of the year. He made all four individual finals at the GARCs and NCAA, finishing with GARC gold in air rifle and bronze in smallbore. At the NCAA Championships, Peiser finished sixth in the smallbore final and took home silver in the air rifle final.
Also returning for Kentucky will be seniors Allison Buesseler and Tori Kopelen, juniors Martin Voss and AJ Hotko and sophomore Emily Marne. The Wildcats added three rookie stars and a sophomore transfer to this year’s team. True freshmen Liz Probst, Sam Adkins and Hannah Todd figure to add much depth to the program as all three enter Lexington with an accomplished junior record. Also joining for 2024-25 is Alaska transfer Brandon Evans.
For more information on the Kentucky rifle team, visit UKathletics.com or follow UKRifle on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
