Wildcats in First Place at NCAA Championships after Day One

CHARLESTON, S.C. – Three Wildcats made the smallbore final, and the fourth-seeded Kentucky rifle team sits atop the leaderboard by 18 points after posting 2345 – it’s second-highest score in the discipline this season – on the first day of the 2018 NCAA Championships inside The Citadel’s McAlister Field House on Friday. 
 
“Overall, I could not be more proud of the effort this group gave today,” head coach Harry Mullins said. “They battled as hard as they could for every single point. Having three in the final and two in the top three overall standings was awesome. I am very proud of their effort so far. Now we have to refocus and get ready for another pressure-packed day tomorrow.”
 
Henrik Larsen, who picked up his third-highest score in smallbore with a 592, and Hanna Carr (587) owned the top two spots in the individual standings heading into the final. Carr took second place overall in the final with 458.2, just 1.2 points from the title that was claimed by West Virginia’s Morgan Phillips. Larsen finished a spot behind Carr in the final in third place with a 446.8. Billy Azzinaro, who matched his second-highest smallbore performance of the season with a 584, ultimately finished fifth in the final following his 419.1.
 
Hailee Sigmon just missed out on the final after firing a 582, but her performance today matched her career best in the discipline.
 
Top-ranked West Virginia sits in second place at 2327 while TCU (2326), Murray State (2324), and Air Force (2319) round out the top five.
 
Air rifle will commence on Saturday, March 10 from 9:45 a.m. to 3:45 p.m. The first smallbore relay will be called to the range at 9:45 a.m. with competition beginning at 10:15 a.m. and lasting until 11:30 a.m. Relay No. 2 will be called to the range at 11:45 a.m. with competition lasting from 12:15 until 1:30 p.m. Air rifle finals will begin at 2:30 p.m.