March 10, 2012
COLUMBUS, Ohio — After winning the national championship in smallbore on Friday and owning a narrow three-point lead entering the final day of competition, the Kentucky rifle team posted a 4661 total score, good for a second place overall finish at the 2011-12 NCAA Championships, hosted by Ohio State at French Field House.
Kentucky (11-1, 6-0 Great American Rifle Conference) entered the air rifle portion of the competition owning a three-point lead. UK finished with a 2333 in air rifle on Saturday, with the Wildcats winning the tiebreaker for the second-place finish with the 4661 total team score. Led by Sarah Scherer, TCU posted a 4676 total team score to win the NCAA Championship.
The Wildcats won the NCAA Championship for the first time in program history last season, with UK posted a 4700 overall team score that set the NCAA record. UK’s smallbore national title on Friday was the second in program history and the second consecutive for the Wildcats.
UK’s second-place finish is the fifth all-time runner-up finish at the NCAA Championships in program history. The decorated program – directed by the legendary head coach Mullins and assistant coach Stacy Underwood – has now placed among the top 10 teams at the national championships a total of 17 times, owning four third-place finishes in addition to the five runner-up trophies
The championships conclude another stellar season for the Wildcats, who completed their second consecutive undefeated GARC regular-season schedule with a win at West Virginia earlier in the year. UK suffered only one loss on the year, at TCU, the freshly-crowned champions of the NCAA.
TCU won the NCAA title with the 4676 total score, with Alaska-Fairbanks (4661), Army (4658), UTEP (4648), WVU (4647), Jacksonville State (4645) and Nevada-Reno (4632) rounding out the top eight.
UK placed seventh among the eight teams in air rifle on Saturday, with the 2333 team score. UK was led by Henri Junghänel, who tallied a 586, with Emily Holsopple posting a 585. Heather Greathouse and Ethan Settlemires rounding out UK’s starting four with 581’s each in air rifle. Stacy Wheatley also competed for the Wildcats, posting a 572 on Saturday.
