Oct. 21, 2012
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The University of Kentucky rifle team delivered a historic performance for the program on Sunday morning, breaking numerous program records, including total aggregate score, aggregate smallbore score, individual aggregate score and individual smallbore while defeating No. 4 Army 4716 – 4638 and improving to 3-0 on the year.
“4716 was good, in the sense that I feel our team is very capable of doing that,” UK head coach Harry Mullins said. “Now that we have shown ourselves that we can do it once, we have to work to produce that kind of number consistently.”
The Wildcats took a demanding lead early, posting a 795 in prone and finishing smallbore with a season high, 2348. With three shooting over 590 and two 589s in air rifle, Kentucky ran away with the victory to remain undefeated.
“The neat part about it is I feel that we did it as a team,” Mullins said. “Henri (Junghänel) had that 592 in smallbore and Emily (Holsopple) had the 589, between those two they did shoot a couple big smallbore numbers but in the same token I feel that it went very well as a team.”
Junghänel’s historic day began with a program-best 592 in smallbore, surpassing his previous personal collegiate and program-best 590. Later in the morning, Junghänel shot a 594 in air rifle to bring his aggregate total to 1186, also a new program record.
“It was a great performance, I’m proud of myself but there is still some space for improvement,” Junghänel said. “There is still a way to go; a couple of our other guys are able to do that so my mark won’t go unchallenged. My performance in smallbore has improved a lot over the past three months, I’ve stepped up four or five points in the last three months and that has helped me build some confidence.”
Stacy Wheatley stepped up and shot a season-best 593 in air rifle. Wheatley’s 593 marks her third consecutive week of improvement in air rifle. Freshman Connor Davis put in the best effort of his collegiate career and contributed to the new school record, shooting a 583 in smallbore before posting a 589 in air rifle.
“Everyone shot really well, no one was carrying other people,” Davis said on the historic day. “It was a really good team effort so it was good to see that everyone was able to come up at the same time and do well together. It was just a great team day.”
Senior Heather Greathouse put in a solid effort, shooting a 592 in air rifle and 584 in smallbore. Junior Emily Holsopple shot a 589 Sunday morning in smallbore and air rifle. Five more shot north of 585 in air rifle for the Wildcats, including Katie Fretts, Cody Manning, Elijah Ellis, Ed Ryznar and Aaron Holsopple.
“We shot well in air rifle,” Mullins said. “I think today showed them that they definitely have the potential. We’ve got a few more points in us; this is a good starting point for us. We’ll go up and down with the times as far as the numbers go. Hopefully we’re not going to drop too far below that again but at the same token, I don’t think we are at 100 percent across the board. The key is to be 100 percent at the right time.”
Kentucky looks to build on today’s record-setting scores, returning to action next Sunday against Tennessee-Martin.
“I was very proud of the team, they had a tremendous effort today,” Mullins said. “They worked very hard, stayed diligent every shot and got the best out of each shot. If we keep that up we’ll definitely continue to see some good improvement. It is always exciting to set records and therefore raise expectations. But, we are still in the early part of our season and we are looking to continue to work hard so that we can put it all together in the end.”
