Rifle Ready for Saturday’s Dual Match vs. Navy
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Coming off an impressive top-five road win two weeks ago at Georgia Southern, the University of Kentucky rifle team returns to action Saturday, hosting a dual-match with Navy starting at 9 a.m. ET inside Barker Hall.
Sights and prep for smallbore will begin at 9 a.m. ET with air rifle getting underway at approx. 11 a.m. ET. There will be two relays Saturday with smallbore relay 2 starting at approx. 1 p.m. ET and air rifle relay 2 at approx. 3 p.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 each air rifle relay. Admission is free.
Another way for fans to follow along both in-person and watching at home will be live commentary online to help provide a breakdown of the action and how the teams and competitors are performing. Former UK All-American Billy Azzinaro, who helped lead UK to the 2018 NCAA Championship, will be providing commentary of the first relay on Saturday. The live commentary will be available through the UK Rifle Facebook Page, along with live targets and a NCAA scorecard.
“It has been a good few weeks of training for our team coming off the win at Georgia State,” UK head coach Harry Mullins said. “You never really know everything you need to work on until you have had a road match like that under your belt. I think the team has responded well to that experience and I look forward to being in the range with them this weekend as we host a quality Navy squad.”
Last time out, Kentucky scored a 4717 to just outperform top-five ranked Georgia Southern by one point in Statesboro, Georgia. Sophomore Braden Peiser was the star for Kentucky, tying for he highest aggregate score of the match with a 1185. Peiser scored a 590 in smallbore and 595 in air rifle. Freshman Liz Probst was just behind him with a 1182 aggregate, earning a 586 in smallbore and 596 in air rifle. Junior Sofia Ceccarello only competed in air rifle and scored a team-best 598.
Peiser is the leading performer for Kentucky so far this season, averaging a 1186 aggregate with a 589.5 in smallbore and 596.6 in air rifle. Probst is right behind him with a 1182 aggregate, including a 584.5 in smallbore and 597.5 in air rifle. Ceccarello has not competed in smallbore yet this season, but is averaging a 598 in air rifle. Freshmen Sam Adkins and Brandon Evans are average a 1176 and 1172 aggregate, respectively. Adkins had a 579 in smallbore and 597 in air rifle, while Evans is earning a 581 in smallbore and 591 in air rifle. Junior Martin Voss is averaging a 581 in smallbore, 589.5 in air rifle and 1170.5 aggregate, while senior Ally Buesseler is earning a 578 in smallbore, 590 in air rifle and 1168 in aggregate. Sophomores AJ Hotko and Emily Marne are having good seasons. Hotko is earning a 565 in smallbore and 592 in air rifle, while Marne is earning a 561 in smallbore and 573 in air rifle. Freshman Hannah Todd is averaging a 560 in smallbore and 584 in air rifle.
Following the match, Kentucky will travel next weekend to Ole Miss for a dual match. 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.
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.
For more information on the Kentucky rifle team, visit UKathletics.com or follow UKRifle on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
