Feb. 21, 2003

The University of Kentucky rifle team is in Cincinnati this weekend for the Great American Rifle Conference championships. Kentucky will compete Saturday and Sunday on the campus of Xavier University.

UK (No.3 CRCA rankings, 6-5 overall) enters this year’s tournament as the defending GARC champion after a stellar performance in the 2002 championships.

The Rifle Cats are coming off of a record-breaking victory last Saturday, Feb. 15 at Jacksonville State where junior Bradley Wheeldon broke the UK smallbore rifle record previously held by Aaron Shader.

After this weekend’s GARC Championships, Kentucky will await word Monday from the NCAA whether the Rifle Cats’ NCAA Sectional performance two weeks ago was enough to qualify them for a shot at a national title. The NCAA Rifle Championships are set for Mar. 14 and 15 at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, N.Y. Kentucky has finished as the NCAA runner-up the past two seasons.