OXFORD, Miss. ? The Kentucky rifle team took third place in the Great American Rifle Championships, which wrapped up on Sunday afternoon at the Patricia C. Lamar National Guard Readiness Center.

?I?m very happy with our performance,? said Kentucky head coach Harry Mullins, whose team qualified for the NCAA Championships two weeks ago. ?We put up our second best overall performance of the year and I think we?re moving in the right direction as we get closer to nationals.?

The Wildcats took fourth place in both air rifle and smallbore with scores of 2328 and 2304, respectively. Their 4632 aggregate score fell behind only second-ranked Nebraska and third-ranked Army.

?Coming in third behind those two teams is nothing to be ashamed of,? Mullins said. ?They are two of the top teams in the country and we left a lot of points on the board where we could have been right there with them.?

Junior Vicki Goss continued her hot streak by taking second overall in smallbore and sixth in air rifle. Her overall score was second best in the conference.

All-conference teams were also announced with Goss being named to the air rifle second-team honors while freshman Ray Geyer earned honorable mention honors in smallbore. Senior Jeff Hamberg was tabbed a GARC Scholar-Athlete.

Collectively, Kentucky earned the Team Sportsmanship Award.