By Jacob Most
Oct. 24, 2014
ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The second-ranked Kentucky rifle team will make its 2014-15 road debut against two quality opponents in consecutive days this weekend.
The Wildcats face 12th-ranked Navy in Annapolis, Maryland, on Saturday, and then compete the next day vs. No. 17 NC State in Lexington, Virginia.
Saturday’s competition at the Bancroft Hall Rifle Range will begin at 9:00 a.m.
“Going on the road for the first time in a season is always exciting,” UK head coach Harry Mullins said. “You try to forecast all the hiccups you may encounter along the way. We’re going to go to Annapolis and compete against Navy there on Saturday, and following that we’re going to go to Lexington, Virginia, to compete against NC State at the VMI range.
“I’m hoping we have unified leadership. We have seen some really good things in training this week and even coming out of the matches the previous week. We haven’t seen Connor (Davis) in action on the collegiate side this season, along with Heather Kirby. We’re going to see where those two are at when we put them into the mix along with the rest of the traveling team, which turned in a strong showing two weeks ago.”
UK moved up a spot to No. 2 nationally in the newest Collegiate Rifle Coaches Association Poll, which was released on Tuesday.
The Wildcats were ranked third in the preseason poll, but moved up a spot after topping 14th-ranked Akron, 4686-4615, two weeks ago in the season-opener.
UK led Akron 2324-2285 after smallbore, and outscored Akron 2362-2330 in air rifle.
Cody Manning led UK in smallbore with a personal best score of 586, and Sonya May led the way in air rifle with a 593.
Davis did not compete against Akron as he was on international duty representing the United States rifle team at the Championship of the Americas (CAT Games) taking place in Guadalajara, Mexico.
Davis won the 10-meter Air Rifle Bronze Medal at the CAT Games, shooting 181.9 in the finals, to help complete an American sweep of the podium.
Last year, UK defeated Navy with a total of 4693 points to record a 100-point victory in Lexington, Kentucky.
