Feb. 21, 2013
LEXINGTON, Ky. – As the Great American Rifle Conference regular season champions, the Kentucky rifle team will travel to Oxford, Miss., to compete in the conference championships Feb. 22-24 at the Patricia C. Lamar National Guard Readiness Center.
“I think we have a good opportunity to excel again,” UK head coach Harry Mullins said. “Practice has been going well for the past three or four days so I’m excited to see it translate into the competition this weekend.”
The eight-team field includes four of the eight NCAA Championships qualifiers, including Army, West Virginia, Nebraska and Kentucky. The remaining field is made up of Memphis, Ole Miss, North Carolina State and Navy competing as guests since they will be joining the conference in 2013-14.
“It’s going to be a very competitive match; we have some great teams there,” Mullins said. “When you look at having three or four schools that qualified for the NCAA Championships and maybe five in the top nine or 10, that’s a pretty strong field.”
Ranked No. 3, the Wildcats wrapped up a strong overall season that included a third consecutive Great American Rifle Conference Regular Season Championship. The Wildcats broke numerous program records vs. Army earlier in the year, including total aggregate score (4716), aggregate smallbore (2348), individual aggregate score (Henri Junghänel – 1186) and individual smallbore (Junghänel – 592).
The setup of the GARC Championships mirrors the format of the NCAA Championships. Smallbore team competition is on Saturday with Air Rifle on Sunday. There will be four relays that will feature a Kentucky shooter with the fourth relay having two of Kentucky’s counters.
“I think it will give some of our guys that haven’t competed at the NCAAs an opportunity to feel what it’s like to stand up there with just one or two teammates and compete,” Mullins said. “It’s a bump and feel thing to build some confidence going into the NCAA Championships. Overall, having it at the time that we have it is great preparation for our conference to be able to hopefully bring home a national championship.”
Friday night will feature a banquet for the teams competing, with conference awards being announced at the event.
Live scoring of the weekend will be available on olemisssports.com.
