LEXINGTON, Ky. ? The 2006 rifle season will begin Saturday, when head coach Harry Mullins squad faces off with Ohio State, Memphis and Xavier.
Kentucky looks to improve upon last year?s seventh-place finish in the NCAA Championships this season as it begins the season with a tri-meet against some of the very best shooters in the nation.
?It has been a long wait to start shooting matches again,? Mullins said. ?I think that the team is getting very hungry and excited about this weekend. The anxiety is usually very strong for the first match. We have been training for the past six weeks and are really looking for a test. The question is going to be are we ready for the test.
?We have had some good performance as of late. Amy [Sowash] shot a 595 in the last training match and the air team had a 2350. Our smallbore has not yet come around to the level of where it should be but I feel that we will really see how that will turn out in the match. I feel very confident that our freshmen will survive the first match. Overall I feel we are in need of a test. We need to see if our training is taking us in the right direction.?
One thing which will be different on the range for the Wildcats this season is the use of electronic targets.
?This will be the first time that we are shooting a match on the electronic targets,? Mullins said. ?Even though we only have eight we are going to shoot the air rifle portion of the match upstairs on the drill floor and the smallbore portion downstairs on the range at the same time. It will be very neat to see.?
UK returns eight shooters and welcomes four talented newcomers to the roster. Captain?s Amy Sowash and Justin Rinker look to lead a young, yet talented team into a challenging schedule.
?I don?t think we are going to have any easy days in our schedule this year,? Mullins detailed. ?We have set some high goals and some high standards for ourselves and in order to reach the standards and goals we are going to have to compete against the best.
?Starting out the schedule at home is a welcome change of pace. Then heading to Ole Miss and shooting two matches will put us to the test. I think that the team is anxious to get the season underway.?
The match will be Kentucky?s first and only home match of the month, before the squad takes to the road to face off with Ole Miss and Jacksonville State in Oxford, Miss.
