LEXINGTON ? The University of Kentucky rifle team, which has been the national runner-up two of the past three years, announced its 2004-05 schedule Wednesday.

The schedule features seven home and six road matches before NCAA Qualifying begins in Murray, Ky., on Feb. 13.

Kentucky?s home slate includes three-time defending national champion Alaska-Fairbanks, Ohio State, Murray State, NC State, Air Force, West Virginia and Rose Hulman. There is a stretch in November and December that the Wildcats will host four straight matches.

?It was real surprising (to have so many home games). I don?t know if it was by luck or what because we?re usually on the road 90 percent of the time,? said head coach Harry Mullins.

Six Great American Rifle Conference foes are on the schedule, including Nebraska, Army, Ole Miss, Memphis and Xavier, which finished third in the nation in 2003.

?Our conference, if you look at the schools in it, is by far the toughest shooting conference in the country,? Mullins said. ?Most of the teams in our conference will be in the final eight at NCAAs. So, shooting against those teams on a regular basis will get us ready for NCAAs, but it can also wear on you over the course of the season.?

Kentucky will have to contend with the tough schedule with a youthful squad that features four freshman and four sophomores compared to just one senior.

?As far as experience, we?re not as deep as we have been in the past,? Mullins said. ?But, I think that can be a plus on our side because we have a lot of shooters who have tremendous potential.

The Wildcats will also have to replace All-American Bradley Wheeldon, who they lost to graduation.

?We lost our biggest key shooter in Bradley Wheeldon,? said Mullins. ?A guy like that is hard to replace. I feel like our team has learned a lot from Bradley and are ready to move to the next level. We?ve had some good chances the past few years with some current team members and have won a conference title in that span.?

Kentucky gets its season underway on Oct. 9 against Army at West Point, N.Y. The Wildcats also face conference foes Ole Miss and Memphis in the first month of the season.

?Army is probably preseason top three or four in the country, so it should be a tough one right off the bat. But I think it will be a good experience for us, win or lose, to go compete on their range and their conditions.