LEXINGTON, Ky. — Coming off the first national championship in program history, the Kentucky rifle team has released a challenging 2011-12 schedule, it was announced by head coach Harry Mullins on Wednesday afternoon.
Kentucky will host a total of four home matches, in addition to the NCAA Qualifying competition. UK will play a total of seven matches away from Lexington, including trips to Ohio State, Alaska-Fairbanks, Army, TCU and West Virginia.
“We are fortunate enough to have a team we believe is strong deep into the roster,” Mullins said about the challenges of several road matches. “When you are on the road for matches it becomes even more of a challenge to bring your best performance. However, we believe we have a team whose strength goes deep into the roster. Each shooter is going to bring their best performance for the chance to represent Kentucky, both in Lexington and across the nation.”
UK will open its 2011-12 season with the exhibition match with the US Army Marksmanship Unit, competing in air rifle on Oct. 3 at Barker Hall. UK will then kick-off its homestand with Great American Rifle Conference matches vs. Ole Miss on Oct. 21, Nebraska on Oct. 23 and Memphis on Oct. 30.
The Wildcats then hit the road on Nov. 12, facing Ohio State and Murray State in Columbus, Ohio, before facing Air Force and Alaska-Fairbanks on Nov. 19-20 in Fairbanks, Alaska.
After a break for the holiday season, UK will ramp back up in the spring semester, traveling to Army on Jan. 14 in West Point, N.Y., and TCU on Jan. 21 in Fort Worth, Texas. UK will wrap up its spring season on Feb. 4-5 vs. West Virginia and N.C. State in Morgantown, W.Va.
The GARC Championships will be hosted Feb. 25-26 at the Patricia C. Lamar Army National Guard Readiness Center by Ole Miss in Oxford, Miss. UK will host the NCAA Qualifier on Feb. 18 in Lexington, with the NCAA Championships set for March 9-10.
In 2010-11, UK captured its first NCAA Title, posting a NCAA-record 4700 overall team score to claim the crown, also winning the team NCAA Championship in smallbore, with Ethan Settlemires claiming the individual championship.
