WEST POINT, N.Y. — Led by strong performances in both guns from Emily Holsopple and Ethan Settlemires, the defending national champion Kentucky rifle team improved to 8-0 win a win at Army, 4693-4646, on Saturday at the Tronsure Rifle Range.
“I was real proud of the team on coming out with the win today,” UK head coach Harry Mullins said. “We responded real well to adversity on this trip, as we had several travel issues getting to West Point. The team handled everything professionally, no one complained and they responded today. It was a good performance and a great start to the spring semester.”
Kentucky (8-0, 4-0 Great American Rifle Conference) opened its spring portion of the schedule with the win at West Point, totaling a 2325 total smallbore score and a 2368 total air rifle team tally.
“Overall, we showed that the hard work is paying off from last semester,” Mullins said. “We are still working hard and it is always great to come away with a win on the road. Army is a great team and they came in focused and competitive. We had some pressure-filled shots in air rifle and didn’t let down.”
Holsopple and Settlemires led UK in both guns, with the duo each charting a 585 in smallbore. Settlemires led UK in air rifle with a 594, with Holsopple adding a 593. Also in air rifle, Henri Junghänel finished with a 592, with Heather Greathouse recording a 592 and Stacy Wheatley posting a 589. Katie Fretts finished with a 585 in air rifle.
“I was real proud of Heather,” Mullins said. “She had a good score in air gun. She shot really well. She had a great performance in air rifle. She is capable of doing that day in and day out. She had a tremendous performance and she is that type of shooter.”
In smallbore, Holsopple and Settlemires led UK with 585’s, with Junghänel charting a 576, Greathouse a 579, Wheatley a 572 and Fretts a 569.
“Henri, Ethan and Emily all had good days,” Mullins said. “To have three shooters over 1170 (combined) is a pretty good day so we feel good about that. Ethan had a great standing (smallbore) and Emily fought hard to get a 585 in smallbore. We have a very talented team and we just need to keep striving towards getting better and peaking at the right time as one unit.”
The Wildcats return to its grueling second semester road slate, traveling to TCU on Jan. 21 in Fort Worth, Texas.
“We have to keep on working and get back to the road,” Mullins said. “We are looking forward to getting to Fort Worth to take on a very good TCU team.”
