Oct. 18, 2013
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The University of Kentucky rifle team opens the 2013-14 campaign Saturday with No. 14 Mississippi coming to town. The second-ranked Wildcats will hit the range Saturday morning at the Buell Armory, with smallbore starting at 9 a.m. and air rifle following.
“It’s always exciting to get the season started,” UK head coach Harry Mullins said. “We’ve been training hard leading up to this and I’m excited to see our team’s hard work come to fruition. I think our shooters are prepared and ready for the test. There will be a couple new faces in the lineup and I’m looking forward to seeing them step up and rise to the challenge.”
Kentucky’s counters in smallbore include senior Emily Holsopple, sophomore Connor Davis, senior Aaron Holsopple and freshmen Heather Kirby and Sonya May. Kentucky’s air rifle counters are Emily Holsopple, Davis, May and juniors Cody Manning and Elijah Ellis.
The Wildcats enter the new season after finishing runner-up at the NCAA Championships in 2012-13, shooting an aggregate 4670 to finish nine points behind National Champion, West Virginia.
Kentucky returns three All-Americans, including Emily Holsopple (First Team Smallbore, Second Team Air Rifle), Connor Davis (First Team Air Rifle, Second Team Smallbore) and Elijah Ellis (Honorable Mention Air Rifle).
Ole Miss is 1-2 on the year, coming off a 1-1 weekend in Alaska. The Rebels opened their trip to Alaska with a 4614-4570 win over North Carolina State, before falling 4694-4610 on Sunday to No. 3 Alaska-Fairbanks. Melissa Quartarone led Ole Miss vs. Alaska-Fairbanks, shooting a 586 in smallbore and air rifle.
“Ole Miss is a good squad, I expect them to break out of their shell and have a good match,” Mullins said. “They’ve had spurts where some of their key components have really popped up and this weekend is a good opportunity for them to produce a good number together. This match put me on edge when we scheduled it as our first match because I think they are a very good squad.”
Free breakfast and coffee will be available for fans in attendance at the Kentucky’s first match of the year. The breakfast spread will be available in the Buell Armory with screens set up for live scoring.
Live scoring will be available on UKRifle.com.
