MURRAY, Ky. ? The Kentucky rifle team, without two of its strongest shooters, fell short of the Withrow Invitational title, placing fourth with a solid 4590 total team score in competition held Sunday in Murray, Ky.

?This was a good learning experience for the team,? Kentucky head coach Harry Mullins said. ?I was hoping for some better scores out of our veteran shooters but they just had a hard time converting on the opportunity. Even though we placed fourth, it was a good match. We learned that we need to always keep our focus on task and not drift. We learned that in order for our team to be successful, we all have to do our part. One person is not going to be able to carry the load the whole way.?

Kentucky competed without senior Amy Sowash and freshman Thomas Csenge who were in Germany competing at the Baverain Air Rifle Championships. In the absence of Csenge and Sowash, several individuals stepped up to lead the squad. Freshmen standout Jen Pason posted a match-high smallbore score of 583 and sophomore Andrew Roland followed with a second-place 579. Leading UK in air rifle was freshman Ashley Jackson who posted a fifth-place 587 score.

Kentucky notched a smallbore team score of 2272, good for third and a fourth place 2318 in air rifle.

?Not having Tom and Amy left us a few points to make up but I felt that we are a team capable of making that up,? Mullins said. ?We had many chances to throw in the towel but we kept up the fight. The team really worked hard and did not give up at any point. I think this was a really good test for us in that it checked out character.?

The Wildcats return to action on Feb. 3 with a matchup against Rose-Hulman in Terre Haute, Ind.