No. 4 UK Rifle Hosts Kentucky Long Rifle Match

LEXINGTON, Ky. – The No. 4 Kentucky rifle team will host No. 11 Murray State and No. 16 Morehead State on Saturday for the Kentucky Long Rifle Match. The match will begin at 8 a.m. ET with live targets updated online at UKathletics.com. 
 
The Wildcats open up their home schedule with the Kentucky Long Rifle Match for the second year in a row, defeating the Racers and Eagles a year ago. It is the second year of the match. The match brings together the three NCAA Division 1 rifle programs from Kentucky. Kentucky is the only state in the country with three collegiate teams.
 
The match will utilize a unique format aggregating the scores from seven shooters, instead of the five designated squad members for smallbore and air rifle commonly used within NCAA competition. The scores from the five squad designees will still be recorded from this match for NCAA qualifying purposes.
 
The winning team will be awarded the “Kentucky Long Rifle” trophy, which has been hand engraved to honor all the teams involved.
 
Kentucky defeated Murray State last weekend in Murray by a score of 4696-4654. Four Wildcats broke the 590 barrier in air rifle, and seven topped 585. Freshmen Mary Tucker and Emmie Sellers shot an air rifle score of 595 and 594, respectively, in their UK debuts. Tucker was the top individual scorer of the match with an 1185.
 
Last weekend’s victory over the Racers marked the 10th win for the Wildcats in 11 matches between the two squads, having split the previous two years. Kentucky beat Murray State in Lexington last October by a score of 4718-4685.
 
UK travels out west next Saturday to Colorado to compete against No. 3 Air Force, No. 12 Nebraska and No. 19 UTEP in a match held at the Air Force Academy. Sellers, Will Shaner, and Hailee Sigmon will have a homecoming of sorts as they return to their home state of Colorado.
 
This season’s GARC Championships will be in Memphis, Tennessee, on Feb. 28-29. Kentucky will play host to the 2019 NCAA Championships in Memorial Coliseum on March 13-14.
 
For the latest on the Kentucky rifle team, follow @UKrifle on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, as well as on the web at UKathletics.com.