Senior Carr Still Developing Her UK Rifle Legacy

Kentucky rifle senior Hanna Carr has already left a lasting impact on the program, even as she’s just beginning her senior year.

Carr came to UK from nearby Woodford County High School, and has been one of the faces of the program during her three years at Kentucky. Her list of accomplishments is lengthy and, after last season, now includes a team national championship. She’s also a seven-time All-American and a USA Shooting National Champion.

Despite all of those tangible accomplishments, Carr’s legacy at UK may be defined by something that cannot be measured in a traditional sense.

“I think the biggest legacy is the culture change that we have,” Carr said. “We’re so much more of a family unit than we were my first two years. Last year, we had a culture change within the team and how we interact not only with each other, but with the coaches. And how to utilize different resources we have like practicing, or taking better care of ourselves with nutrition and sleep.”

The culture change led to the Wildcats claiming the 2018 NCAA Rifle Championship last season. UK head coach Harry Mullins knows that Carr played a big part in that culture change.

“She came up with my favorite quote, in one of our team meetings,” Mullins said. “She said ‘we don’t have to necessarily always have to like each other, but we always have to love each other.’ We really embraced that.”

As a senior, Carr is ready to lead the young Wildcats as they try to defend last year’s national title.

“The older kids, we all take in the younger ones,” Carr said. “The freshmen, there are things that they don’t know that happen in college. Like how classes work, or how it’s going to be with rifle matches. Being a senior and having gone through it a few times, letting them know that it’s going to be OK. I have told them the things that I went through or the way I got out of certain things. I’m here to nurture, here to show the way.”

Winning the national title, something that had eluded UK since 2011, was gratifying for Carr and her teammates.

“It was really cool because, as much as you say every year ‘we’re going to win a national championship’, that’s ultimately the goal for every team, but it’s cool to actually finally get one,” Carr said. “For our norm, it wasn’t that we were going to win a national championship. As much as we worked that and as much as that’s the goal, you never really know how it’s going to turn it. When you get to the national match, it just comes down to how everybody shoots that day. It was really cool to actually do it this time. It was really nice to go out there and to be able to do what we all knew we could do.”

Now, Carr and the Cats will try to defend that title, something that the senior knows will not be easy.

“This year, we’re going to have to work just as hard, if not harder,” Carr said. “We know the amount of work that goes into to it and we know that, at this point, we have a target on our back. You can’t just settle for what worked last year.”

The good news, Carr says, is that last year’s team laid the groundwork for another successful season.

“After last year, we figured out how we needed to work and how we needed to all get together to get to certain goals,” Carr said. “Once we figured out that we had to leave everything else off the range, we just had to shoot and take care of ourselves and get along as a team and a family unit. It really set the tone for this year, more than anything.”

After graduation, Carr hopes to attend medical school to become a rural doctor, either in family practice or OB/GYN. While she waits to hear from her top medical school choices, it’s rifle that’s her only norm.

“I’m still waiting to hear back from medical school and I’m waiting to know what I’ll do if I get it or if I don’t get in,” Carr said. “There are so many unknowns right now.  The one thing that’s the most steady right now is shooting.”

As for now, Carr will continue to develop her legacy with the UK Rifle program. No matter what happens this season, she hopes to leave the program in good shape.

“I hope that (culture change) stays,” she said. “I definitely hope that lasts because I think that’s part of a successful team. You don’t always get along, but you always care about each other and you’re going to clear the air. That was one of the big things we did was clearing the air and working together and realizing that shooting was more important than drama. That was hopefully the most important thing that will come out of these four years.”

Whether it’s a culture change that led to a national title, or her long list of accomplishments, Carr will be forever remembered as a huge part of the UK Rifle program.