LEXINGTON, Ky. — Fresh off a fourth-place finish at the 2006-07 NCAA Championships, the Kentucky rifle team has released a challenging 2007-08 schedule, featuring matches against each of the top-eight teams from the 2006-07 NCAA Championships, UK head coach Harry Mullins announced Wednesday.
In addition to six home matches, the UK schedule features a total of six road matches, including multiple trips to rifle powers Nebraska and Ole Miss. Among the home matches featured at Barker Hall include Ole Miss, North Carolina State, Morehead State, Texas Christian, and Jacksonville State.
A year ago Kentucky posted one of its most successful seasons in the history of the program, claiming the Great American Rifle Conference regular season and tournament titles. The Wildcats cruised through the GARC regular season slate, finishing undefeated in conference action and tallying an 11-1 overall record.
UK individual shooters tallied a bevy of accolades last year, as freshman Jen Pason took home Rookie of the Year honors and Mullins notched his third GARC Coach of the Year award. Pason, fellow freshman shooter Tom Csenge, Andrew Roland, and graduated senior Amy Sowash all took home All-America honors.
Kentucky gets the season kicked off in style with a Oct. 7 match in Columbus with Ohio State, typically a season-opening match for the Wildcats.
?I think this will be a good test to open the season,? Mullins said. ?We have traditionally shot against Ohio State as one of the first matches of the season. There is a lot of history between the two teams and OSU has always been a very solid team and this year will be no different.?
After getting the season started with the match in Columbus, the team hits to the road for a weekend trip to Nebraska to face off with the Cornhuskers and the defending NCAA Champion Alaska-Fairbanks.
?This match will be our first conference match,? Mullins said. ?Nebraska is always a very solid team and the preseason polls have them in the top three in the conference and top eight in the NCAA. Nebraska?s new head coach, Morgan Hicks, is a great motivator. She has the talent pool of a very strong team. They have the talent to be one of the final eight at the NCAA Championships this year. Returning a strong core group from the fifth-place finish last year at the NCAA?s they will be out to show everyone that they are a force to be reckoned with early in the season.?
After the match with the upstart Cornhuskers, Mullins squad faces Alaska-Fairbanks, the team that provided UK?s lone blemish a year ago on an 11-1 season. Last year, UK pushed the Nanooks to the limit, losing narrowly to the powerhouse school.
?This should be another nail bitter,? Mullins said. ?Alaska is the defending NCAA Champions, they lost three key shooters, yet they were very deep in talent and had a great recruiting class. We will have to bring a good game to pull out a win in this match. It will be great to shoot against them on a neutral range.?
UK returns to Lexington for a three-match home stand, welcoming Ole Miss on Nov. 2 and NC State and Morehead State on Nov. 4.
?Ole Miss had a good recruiting class this summer and they are on the rise,? Mullins said. ?Just missing last years NCAA?s, they will out in full force to make a move both in the conference and nationally. NC State has been a team on the rise within the conference, even though they are relatively new to the GARC this past year. They are going to really work at trying to make a move within the conference this year. Morehead State has made some major changes to their lineup but they are very hungry, and with a state rivalry at stake they will work very hard.?
UK then travels to West Virginia on Nov. 14, before returning home for a match with TCU on Nov. 17, wrapping up the Fall season.
?West Virginia has had one of the best recruiting classes in the country this year,? Mullins detailed. ?They are out to get right back into the national scene and pursue a championship. They will be the most improved team in the conference this year and they are going to throw themselves into the conference race. By the time we get to Morgantown, they will be very hungry. Jon Hammonds is a good coach and he will have his team ready for this match.
?TCU finished tied for fifth at the NCAA Championships last season and they are returning all of their key shooters. They will be out to prove that they have improved over the summer and will be hungry for this match. I think this will be another strong test on how well we can perform against another great team.?
To get the Spring season started, UK travels to Palmyra, Penn., for the annual Palmyra Invitational. Every season, the Palmyra Invite attracts the top 10 teams in the nation, and with two Pennsylvania natives on the UK roster, provides the Wildcats with a homecoming of sorts.
?This is always a great way to start the spring campaign,? Mullins said. ?This tournament will give us some good motivation this season because the competition is always very strong there. The past two years it has been the biggest regular season tournament we have attended on a national stage.?
Kentucky then travels to Oxford, Miss., for a pair of matches against Memphis and Army on Jan. 25 and Jan. 27.
?Memphis has really put together a strong recruiting class this season and at that point in the season, our team will really need to come together,? Mullins said. ?Our match with Army will be the final conference match before the conference championships. Army finished second at the NCAA?s last year and they are as strong or stronger this year. To meet them on the road on a neutral range will be a good test on where we stand in the spring nationally. This match will show us a lot about our team.?
After facing off with Rose-Hulman at home on Feb. 2, UK hosts national power Jacksonville State on Feb. 3.
?This will be a great match, JSU finished third last season and they are a very strong team this year,? Mullins said. ?They are returning everyone from their NCAA lineup and they have had good success this summer. This will be a great test right before our NCAA qualifier. The match should be a very tough test of our team?s depth and capabilities.?
The match with Jacksonville State will conclude the regular season but UK will get the privilege of hosting the NCAA Qualifier?s at home this season, a rare first in program history.
?This is the second half of our qualification procedure to get to the NCAA?s,? Mullins said. ?We have never hosted the qualifier, yet since we have installed the new electric targets I felt that shooting it on these targets will give us a fair and nonbiased score. It is always nice to shoot this match on the road because of the limited distractions from day-to-day life. Yet having the comforts of home should outweigh that luxury.?
After hosting the NCAA Qualifier, UK will head back to Oxford to defend its GARC Conference Championship title on Feb. 23-24 before heading to the NCAA Championships in mid March.
?The GARC Championships will be a very tough match for us,? Mullins said. ?I am hoping that we will be ready to face all of the teams in the conference on the same day. I anticipate at least four teams from the conference going to the NCAA final eight this year.?
While Mullins? schedule is certainly a challenging one, UK will return a talented nucleus of veterans, likely to continue to boost UK into the national scene.
?I feel overall we have a very tough schedule,? Mullins concluded. ?We will be competing against the entire field of last years final eight teams at the NCAA?s and some strong teams that will more than likely make it this year. Having a tough schedule is an opportunity for us to constantly stay focused on our goals and get us ready for major matches and great performances. Along with the tough schedule we will also have individuals competing in other matches such as World Cup selections, National Team Selections, and Olympic Trials. Thus, this season should be a very fun filled and exciting journey towards meeting and achieving our goals.?
