No. 3 Rifle Continues Road Stretch vs. No. 13 NC State, No. 12 Army
LEXINGTON, Ky. – It will be an action-packed weekend for the No. 3 University of Kentucky rifle team as the Wildcats travel to West Point, New York for two matches inside the Tronsue Marksmanship Center.
The weekend begins Saturday with a neutral-site match against No. 13 NC State before UK takes on No. 12 Army on Sunday. Live scoring from both matches will be available online at UKathletics.com.
“We are excited to get on the road and test ourselves with two tough matches this weekend,” UK head coach Harry Mullins said. “The team has been training well and now we have to see if that training will translate over to match day. It is always nice to compete here at West Point, which is a great facility. The team has been working very hard this spring and I am excited for them to compete this weekend and see that hard work pay off. It will also be good to see Hailee come back into the lineup after surgery.”
The Wildcats are coming off an impressive performance last weekend in a tri-match vs. No. 6 Ole Miss and No. 14 Alaska-Fairbanks. UK finished with a total score of 4699, besting Ole Miss (4673) and Alaska-Fairbanks (4655). Freshman Mary Tucker had another fantastic performance in the match, scoring 593 in smallbore and 597 in air rifle for a 1190 aggregate score, which ties the third best aggregate in the nation. Tucker has the top-four aggregate scores in the nation this season and is scheduled to be in all four lineups this weekend.
Kentucky posted a smallbore score of 2328 in the tri-match with sophomore Will Shaner posting a 583, sophomore Ruby Gomes a 577, freshman Jaden Thompson a 575 and sophomore Richard Clark a 574. In her first match since October 26, junior Hailee Sigmon posted an impressive 594 air rifle score with two Wildcats joining Tucker and Sigmon above 590 in Shaner and freshman Emmie Sellers at 594 and 592, respectively. Gomes and Clark both went for 588 in air rifle. The team as a whole posted an air rifle score of 2371.
The tri-match win for Kentucky was a perfect start to the spring season after UK went 6-0 during the fall. Kentucky boasted the No. 3 average team aggregate score in the country during the fall with a 4704.0. West Virginia (4712.72) and TCU (4710.86) are the two teams ahead of the Wildcats.
This season’s GARC Championships will be in Memphis, Tennessee, on Feb. 28-29. Kentucky will play host to the 2020 NCAA Championships in Memorial Coliseum on March 13-14. Tickets are available online at UKathletics.com/NCAARifle.
For the latest on the Kentucky rifle team, follow @UKRifle on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, as well as on the web at UKathletics.com.
