Aug. 13, 2009
LEXINGTON, Ky. — Following a second-place finish in the 2008-09 NCAA Rifle Championships, the Kentucky rifle team has released a challenging 2009-10 schedule, UK head coach Harry Mullins announced Thursday afternoon.
Kentucky finished the 2008-09 season with the Great American Rifle Conference regular season and tournament championships, finishing just shy of the NCAA title. This year, the Wildcats will host seven matches in Lexington at UK’s Barker Hall. UK will also hitting to the road for five regular-season matches, in addition to trips to the GARC Championships in Oxford, Miss., and the NCAA Championships, held in Fort Worth, Texas.
“We are really excited about our 2009-10 schedule,” Mullins said. “We had an excellent season last year, but are looking forward to taking the next step. Our schedule will feature a challenging slate of matches, against some of the top teams in the nation. We are looking forward to testing ourselves against the best.”
Kentucky will open its season with a pair of matches, beginning with N.C. State on Oct. 9 in Lexington, before hosting Memphis Sunday, Oct. 11.
“N.C. State has had a good recruiting year,” Mullins said. “They have been getting stronger and stronger every year and they are going to make a hard push to move up in the conference this year. It is not very often we open up with a conference match and this will put a test to our team right out of the gate.
“Just like N.C. State, Memphis has been on the rise. They are going to come into Lexington to make a big push to make a statement in the conference. Their smallbore team has gotten stronger and their air team had always been a big asset. I look for both of these matches to be a solid test to where we stand in the conference this year.”
After the pair of home matches, UK will hit the road for a Saturday, Oct. 17 match against TCU in Fort Worth, site of the 2008-09 and 2009-10 NCAA Championships.
“We are working on starting the travel season at TCU and ending it there,” Mullins said. “TCU will be the host for this year’s NCAA Championships and they have added depth to their team this year. They have a very strong senior class returning and one of the best incoming recruiting classes in the country. TCU’s depth will play a major role in the match and it will probably come down to a few points between the teams. We are going to have to work very hard prior to this match for those points to come down on our side.”
UK then stays on the road for an in-state battle, facing Murray State in Murray, Ky., on Saturday Oct. 24.
“MSU has probably had the largest recruiting class this year coming in,” Mullins said. “They are in a rebuilding year and Coach Lollar has done a great job in placing MSU back into the top 10 schools in the nation. They will be out to swing the state rivalry in their favor. The MSU match has always been one where there is a lot of emotion among the teams because both are in state.”
Kentucky will wrap up October with Jacksonville State on Oct. 31, welcoming JSU to Barker Hall.
