Rifle
March 18, 2015 - 02:00 AM

Three Wildcats Earn Five All-America Honors in Rifle

By Ryan Cox

March 18, 2015 –

Lexington, Ky. – Three members of the Kentucky rifle team have combined to earn five All-America honors as the teams were announced following the NCAA Championships.

Connor Davis led UK with three All-America accolades this season. He was named a Collegiate Rifle Coaches Association First-Team All-American for the second year in a row. He also earned first-team honors from the National Rifle Association in both air rifle and smallbore.

Davis has now scored eight All-America selections in his UK career. He was the NCAA Bronze Medalist in smallbore last weekend.

Heather Kirby was also a first-team All-America selection in air rifle by the NRA. Sonya May earned second team status in air rifle from the NRA.

Kirby was All-American in air rifle last season. May is now a four-time All-American.

“It’s always nice to have All-America awards,” UK head coach Harry Mullins said. “The folks that earned these awards were deserving. The parody in the country has gotten closer and the numbers have gotten higher. If that’s something that we want, we have to go after those numbers more and more.

“It’s not a voting thing where we can sway peoples’ opinions. It’s how many points you bring to the table. I thought these honorees did a good job of that to earn those (All-America) spots.”

The CRCA All-America teams recognize the best overall shooters in the country, basing selections off average aggregate scores. The top five averages are placed on the first team, with six through 10 on the second team and 11-15 on the third team. The NRA recognized All-Americans in individual disciplines based on season averages.

Sonya May earned honorable mention All-America status from the CRCA and Jonathan Pinkel earned honorable mention in air rifle from the NRA.

Davis finished the season with the third best average aggregate score in the nation (1174.692). He had the second best average smallbore score in the country (583.769).

Kirby finished 14th in air rifle at the NCAA Championships, while Davis placed 16th.

Kirby ended 2014-15 ranked No. 8 nationally in air rifle average (591.154). Davis ranked 10th (590.923) and May ranked 17th (589.917).