Rifle Sets 2026-27 Competition Schedule
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The competition schedule for the 2026-27 University of Kentucky rifle team has been released, featuring six home matches, including an NCAA Qualifier to wrap up the home schedule, it was announced Wednesday.
The 2026-27 schedule features 14 regular-season matches in total followed by the Great America Rifle Conference Championships and NCAA Championships. All six home matches will be held inside the UK Rifle Range in Barker Hall. Matches normally get underway around 9 a.m. ET with free breakfast during smallbore with fans allowed into the range for air rifle a few hours later. All admission to UK rifle home matches are free.
“We are excited to release our schedule for this upcoming season and even more excited to get the athletes back on campus in the next few weeks and get underway with training,” UK head coach Harry Mullins said. “This is an exciting time of year as we welcome new faces and get to do all the fun things like photo and video day and team bonding. Coach Cat and I are excited about this group and look forward to working with them daily in the range to get better.”
The 2026-27 schedule will be separated into a fall and winter season with eight matches in October and November and eight matches in January, February and March. The season gets underway in Statesboro, Georgia for a dual match against Georgia Southern on Oct. 3. The Eagles will host the 2027 NCAA Rifle National Championships at the end of the season for the first time in their program’s history.
Kentucky will host its home opener on Oct. 10 against Murray State, followed by another home dual match Oct. 17 against Akron. After traveling to Nebraska for a dual match on Oct. 24, the Wildcats will wrap fall home competition with a Halloween dual match with Navy on Oct. 31.
The Wildcats will end the fall slate with two annual trips to two of the most prestigious rifle programs in collegiate rifle. First, UK will compete in the WVU Fall Classic on Nov. 14-15 in Morgantown, West Virginia. The two-day event will mirror a traditional NCAA Championships schedule and feature five teams in Nebraska, TCU, Ole Miss, WVU and UK.
The final road trip will be UK’s annual trip to Fairbanks, Alaska to compete against Alaska Fairbanks and Air Force. The three teams will compete back-to-back days in two different venues on Nov. 21 and Nov. 22.
After nearly a two month break from competition, Kentucky will start on the road in January with a dual match at Memphis on Jan. 16 followed by a dual match at Ole Miss on Jan. 17. The Wildcats will compete in the Withrow Invitational in Murray, Kentucky on Jan. 23 before a good stretch of home matches to wrap up the regular season.
Kentucky will host Army West Point on Jan. 30 for a dual match followed by a home dual match with West Virginia on Feb. 13. Kentucky’s regular-season schedule concludes on Feb. 20 with a NCAA Qualifier inside the UK Rifle Range.
Postseason competition begins with the GARC Championships on Feb. 27 and 28 in Morgantown. The two-day event features smallbore competition on Saturday and air rifle competition on Sunday.
The NCAA Championships will be Friday, March 12 and Saturday, March 13 in Statesboro. The two-day event will feature some of the best rifle athletes and teams in the nation.
Kentucky is coming off a fourth-place finish at the 2026 NCAA Rifle National Championships. UK took home third place in air rifle as a team, while Braden Peiser won the individual smallbore national championship.
Peiser will return for UK after being first-team All-America in aggregate, smallbore and air rifle last season. The rising senior led Kentucky in smallbore, air rifle and aggregate average. Peiser set a NCAA smallbore record score last season and tied a NCAA record aggregate score.
Kentucky will also return Sam Adkins and Liz Probst, who both had great sophomore seasons in 2025-26 and competed at NCAA Championships for Kentucky. Others returning are Emily Marne and Hannah Todd, who showed great improvement last season, and Elisa Boozer and Jacob St. Hilaire, who shined a rookies in 2025-26.
Mullins and Co. will welcome four new faces to the program this season in Noah Abzug (Monkton, Maryland), Maggie Palfrey (Indiana, Pennsylvania), Briley Sralla (Johnson City, Texas) and Iva Rakonjac (Pancevo, Serbia).
Kentucky is one of the most decorated programs in NCAA rifle history, with four national titles – 2011, 2018, 2021 and 2022 – seven runner-up finishes and 25 top-five finishes.
