Rifle Earns Impressive Road Victory at Top-Five Nebraska
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Trailing after smallbore, the University of Kentucky rifle team put together a strong air rifle team score behind two 598s from Braden and Liz Peiser to post an impressive come-from-behind top-five road win at Nebraska on Saturday.
UK posted a 2339 in smallbore and trailed the Cornhuskers by two after the discipline. In air rifle, Kentucky posted a 2383 while Nebraska scored a 2378 to give UK the 4722-4719 edge in the overall match.
Braden was the star again for Kentucky, leading the Wildcats in both disciplines and earning the top individual crown from the match with a 1186 aggregate. Liz was fourth with a 1183 aggregate, competing in both disciplines for the first time since the season opener.
“Proud of the team today to really dig in and get a good air rifle score for the victory,” UK head coach Harry Mullins said. “Nebraska is a tremendous team and I have so much respect for Richard and his program. As I told the team, happy they got the win, but even in a victory we have to make sure we are paying attention to the little things that will make us better. We can’t let the win hide or cloud that we still have a lot of room for improvements. Looking forward to spending Halloween next weekend at home with Big Blue Nation, should be a fun day. Go Cats!”
Kentucky posted a 2339 team score in smallbore with Braden leading the way with a 588, scoring a 197 in kneeling, 198 in prone and 197 in standing. Junior Sam Adkins posted a 586 with a 192 in kneeling, 199 in prone and 195 in standing, while Liz scored a 585 with a 196 in kneeling, 199 in prone and 192 in standing. Freshman Noah Abzug scored a 580 with a 195 in kneeling and prone and 190 in standing, while sophomore Jacob St. Hilaire scored a 191 in kneeling, 198 in prone and 190 in standing for a 579. Maggie Palfrey ended the scoring with a 576, earning a 189 in kneeling, 195 in prone and 194 in standing.
In air rifle, Kentucky was paced by Braden and Liz both at 598 with Liz earning 52 centers and Braden hitting 47 centers. Adkins scored a 594 with 53 centers, while Palfrey posted a 593 with 45 centers. St. Hilaire scored a 590 with 45 centers with Abzug ending the scoring with a 589 and 41 centers.
Nebraska was paced by Alivia Perkins, who scored a 592 in smallbore and 593 in air rifle for a 1185 aggregate to finish second overall, individually.
Kentucky will return home next weekend and welcome Big Blue Nation into Barker Hall for a Halloween dual-match with Navy. The match will be Saturday, Oct. 31 and start time is to be determined.
Free breakfast will be available up in Barker Hall during smallbore, while fans will be invited into the range for air rifle. UK will have a live stream of the match on youtube.com/@UKSportsVideo and live targets and a NCAA scorecard available online at UKathletics.com.
