COLUMBUS, Ohio — Tom Csenge posted a match-high 1177 cumulative score, as the Kentucky rifle team kicked off its 2007-08 season with a 4649-4505 win over Ohio State, on Sunday afternoon in Columbus, Ohio.
?Overall, I am very pleased with how hard the team worked,? Kentucky head coach Harry Mullins said. ?We did not shoot as high as we wanted to, yet our numbers were not too far off the mark. We had some good things come from today, with Ray Geyer posting one of the best scores of his career and Tom having a usually solid day.?
Kentucky got strong performances from both guns, racking up a 2314 smallbore total and a 2335 air rifle score. Pacing UK was Csenge, whose 584 smallbore and 593 air rifle scores led competition. Senior captain Ray Geyer stepped up in the first match of the season, posting an 1170 total score (583 SB/587 AR).
?Sarah Broeker and Leslie Angeli both had a 582 in air rifle, which are very solid scores? Mullins detailed. ?Clint Sejkora also had a good day in both smallbore and air rifle, and I think the freshmen had a good opportunity to learn a lot today about college shooting.?
UK shooters dominated the match, as the top six finishers in smallbore and the top three shooters in air rifle were Wildcat shooters. Cumulatively, the top four shooters of the combined air rifle and smallbore scores were Wildcats. Andrew Roland and sophomore Jen Pason, the 2006-07 Great American Rifle Conference Rookie of the Year, rounded out the top four total scores of the day.
?Our air rifle is starting to come up to where we need it to be,? Mullins said. ?The team felt that we left some points on the board that we can pick up with a little more attention to detail and focus. I was really proud with the way they handled the pressure and stayed focused. This being the first match of the season, I feel that we learned a lot about ourselves and that gives us some things to work on before we get to Nebraska in three weeks.
?Overall, I am very pleased with how hard the team worked. We just have to get past the point of having our hard work pay off in the numbers. I feel that if we keep going in that direction this will happen soon. I was really excited that we had two shooters in the 1170 range and I think that we can defiantly move a few more into that range in the near future.?
