FORT WORTH, Texas — After falling behind by 14 points after smallbore, the No. 2 Kentucky rifle team mounted a furious rally in air rifle but suffered its first loss of the season at No. 1 TCU, 4703-4693, with the Horned Frogs winning their nation-leading 26th consecutive regular-season match, on Saturday at the TCU Rifle Range.
Kentucky (8-1, 4-0 Great American Rifle Conference) suffered its first loss of the season in its defense of the 2010-11 NCAA Title, which the Wildcats won with a NCAA-record 4700 team score a year ago. Earlier in the year, during a win over Memphis, UK broke its national championship and NCAA-record performance of the 4700 total score with a 4711. UK entered the match with non-league foe TCU off to an 8-0 start to the year, with its only loss in the last two years coming at the hands of the Horned Frogs last season.
With the win, TCU improves to 7-0 and extends its NCAA-leading regular-season match winning streak to 26 games. TCU was led by dynamic performances from Sarah Beard and Sarah Scherer, with the duo each shooting 590’s in smallbore and Scherer charting a staggering 597 (out of 600) in air rifle and Beard a 592.
In smallbore, UK was led by Ethan Settlemires, who posted a 583, with Emily Holsopple charting a 582 and Henri Junghäel and Heather Greathouse each contributing a 581. Heather Greathouse had a 581 with Stacy Wheatley (567) and Katie Fretts (565) finishing the day for the Wildcats in smallbore.
In air rifle, Settlemires finished with a team-high 595, with Junghänel (594) and Holsopple (592) helping spark the Wildcats comeback after falling behind in smallbore. Wheatley finished with a 585, with Fretts (587) and Greathouse (582) rounding out the UK lineup.
Kentucky returns to its rugged road schedule in the spring semester with a Feb. 4-5 trip to Morgantown, W.Va., to take on 2008-09 NCAA Champion West Virginia, in addition to N.C. State to conclude the regular-season. The trip to Morgantown concludes an eight-match road trip after UK opened the year with three consecutive home matches.
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