Oct. 2, 2008

LEXINGTON


, Ky. —

With eight straight top-10 finishes in the NCAA Championships, the Kentucky rifle team has been picked to finish first in the Great American Rifle Conference and third in the nation, it was announced in the preseason Collegiate Rifle Coaches Association top-25 poll.

”
It is very exciting that we are voted No. 3 nationally,” head coach Harry Mullins said. “We have a good team coming back and I think the infusion of the two freshmen will make this an exciting season for us. Polls are good to have to see where other people have you picked, yet in our game, the numbers that you can put out is what counts. We are going to work very hard this season to avoid some of the mistakes that cost us a lot of points last season. We are a much more well-rounded team this year and our focus is pointed in the right direction.”

Kentucky
, which finished fifth in the NCAA Championships in 2007-08 and fourth in 2006-07, is bolstered by the return of a slew of veteran shooters and a pair of the best freshmen in the nation, Megan English and Ethan Settlemyer. Senior Andrew Roland will function as the lone senior, with the strength of the club coming from its junior class, consisting of Leslie Angeli, Tom Csenge, Jen Pason and Ashley Jackson.

As always, UK will face off with 11 of the top 20 teams in the nation in 2008-09, including seven of the top 10 teams.

“When you look at the poll and then our schedule you will see that we compete against the best teams in the nation day in and day out,” Mullins said. “I hope that this will make us a lot stronger by the end of the season.  Living up to the expectations of others is alright but living up to your own expectations is what it is all about. This year we have set those expectations in the right place and are working none stop to reach them.”

In addition to Roland and the powerful junior class, UK will rely on sophomores Sara Broeker, Logan Fox and Clint Sejkora.

“We are really looking forward to getting the season underway,” Mullins detailed. “This will be one of the hardest working teams we have had and we are really looking at getting some good things from a lot of people. We have worked hard to create some depth among the team and hopefully this will help us at the end of the season.

“The one thing that I can guarantee is that this team will not lay down. I think they are very motivated a driven to achieve the expectations that they have set for themselves.”

1     
University
of Alaska
           

2     
West Virginia
University

3     

KENTUCKY

4     
Texas
Christian University

5     
University
of Nebraska

6     
US
Military Academy (ARMY)

7      University of Nevada-Reno

8      US Naval Academy (NAVY)

9     
Murray
State University
    

10    Jacksonville State University   

11    University of Texas-El Paso    

12   
University
of Mississippi
    

13    University of Akron   

14    Tennessee Tech University   

15   
University
of Memphis
  
  

16    Air Force Academy    

17   
Ohio
State University
   

18    Morehead State University  

19   
University of Tennessee-Martin
  

20   
North Carolina
State University
   

21    US Coast Guard Academy  

22    Virginia Military Academy   

23    MIT    

23    Rose Hulman    

25    University of the Sciences