Cats in Second Place After Day One at GARC Championships

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The third-ranked Kentucky rife team sits in second place after the first day of competition at the Great American Rifle Conference Championships. The Wildcats shot 2319 as a squad in smallbore and Hanna Carr and Cathryn Papasodora made the final despite difficult starts.
 
“Our team score was a little lower than what we wanted from this group, but I thought we had some good performances,” head coach Harry Mullins said. “It is always nice to see the shooters get rewarded by getting to shoot the finals after a tough day. We will go into tomorrow trying to duplicate what we have been doing in air rifle training. The environment today was great, the fans were engaged, and it was a really competitive atmosphere, so I’m looking for some more great competition tomorrow.”
 
UK was without GARC Shooter of the Year Henrik Larsen, who’s currently competing in the European Championships, but was still able to put in a steady performance for second place. Carr finished third overall in individual standings at 585 prior to the final, just one shot away from first place. She would ultimately finish in eighth overall in the final.
 
Cathryn Papasodora tied her season-high mark at 584, which is also just one point from her career high in the discipline, and moved into the final after placing fifth overall. Once in the final, she settled in to shoot a 417.2, good enough for fifth place.
 
Billy Azzinaro and Jason Spaude both shot 575 in their first-day showings. Hailee Sigmon, competing in her first conference championship, fired a 570.
 
Air rifle will be on the final day of competition – Sunday – with the first relay beginning at 8 a.m. ET and finals at 2 p.m. The awards presentation will follow the end of the competition. Fans can follow along with the action all day tomorrow with live targets and scorecard.
 
For the latest on the Kentucky rifle team, follow @UKRifle on Twitter and on the web at UKathletics.com.