Jan. 17, 2003

After a long holiday break, the Kentucky Rifle Cats (No. 4 College Rifle Coaches Association Rankings) will resume competition Saturday morning against the Xavier Musketeers (No. 5 CRCA Rankings). The match is set to begin at 8 a.m. at the Buell Armory on the UK campus.

This will mark the first match for the Rifle Cats since Kentucky lost to four-time defending NCAA champion Alaska-Fairbanks on November 23, 2002 in Lexington. The duel with the Musketeers will mark the fourth match this season against a school from the Great American Rifle Conference, of which Kentucky is a charter member. Kentucky (4-5, 1-2 GARC) last competed against Xavier on January 19, 2002 in Cincinnati, Ohio when the Rifle Cats dropped a close match to the Musketeers.

Kentucky Coach Harry Mullins said the holiday break was beneficial for his Rifle Cats.

“I think the break allowed us to refocus on our goals of winning our conference championship in February and doing well in NCAA competition in March,” Mullins said.

“The results from this weekend will be a good testing point to see how much we have improved since we last competed.”

Following Saturday’s match, Kentucky will compete next Sunday, January 26 in the Withrow Invitational on the campus of Murray State University.