The post-season accolades coming in for the University of Kentucky rifle team are indicative of another successful season for Coach Harry Mullins? Wildcats.
Senior Bradley Wheeldon, a Eubank, Ky., native, ends his career with eight All-America selections. Wheeldon earned first-team All-America smallbore and air rifle honors from the National Rifle Association for a second-consecutive season. Wheeldon earned 2003 NCAA Smallbore Runner-Up honors and took the silver medal in the air rifle event at the 2003 Pan American Games in the Dominican Republic.
Sophomore Vicki Goss, a native of Palmyra, Pa., once again earned All-America honors. After picking up first-team air rifle and second-team smallbore All-America honors after a sterling freshman season, Goss earned second-team All-America honors in both events this season. Jeff Hamberg, a junior from Ft. Wayne, Ind., scored his first career All-America selection, earning an honorable-mention smallbore nod.
Goss, Hamberg, sophomore Brad Donoho and senior Lindsey Meagher tallied All-Great American Rifle Conference selections. No fewer than nine Wildcats earned spots on the College Rifle Coaches? Association (CRCA) All-Academic Team. The Kentucky representatives included the aforementioned Goss, Hamberg, Meagher, Donoho and Wheeldon plus senior Melody Cook, freshmen Jared and Justin Rinker and freshman Amy Sowash.
Sowash Takes Sixth Place at Junior Olympics
Freshman Amy Sowash followed a strong rookie season with a sixth-place air rifle showing at the 2004 USA Junior Olympics last weekend at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo. The Richmond, Ky., native competed against 75 women in the 20-and-under age group. Sowash looks to be a vital part of the 2004 Kentucky air rifle contingent with the graduation of seniors Melody Cook, Lindsey Meagher and Bradley Wheeldon.
Wheeldon Aims for Olympic Bid
A seasoned international-shooting competititor, Bradley Wheeldon will compete in May for the one thing missing from his resume: a spot on the U.S. Olympic Team. Wheeldon will attempt to change that just after the spring semester when he takes part in the U.S. Olympic Trials in Ft. Benning, Ga. The top two scorers in the smallbore and air rifle events will represent the United States this August at the Summer Olympic Games in Athens, Greece.
