No. 3 Rifle Begins Weekend with Win vs. No. 13 NC State

LEXINGTON, Ky. – The No. 3 University of Kentucky rifle team used the second-best air rifle score in the nation this season of 2383 to earn a 4715-4638 win over No. 13 NC State on Saturday at the Tronsue Marksmanship Center in West Point, New York.
 
It was a strong overall performance for Kentucky with the aggregate score of 4715 being its second highest this season behind a 4716 during the fall schedule against Ole Miss. The high score is the seventh best in the nation this season as UK has two of the seven best aggregate team scores this year. 
 
“I am very happy for the team today. They battled hard in air rifle as a team and it was a collective effort today to break the 4700 mark,” UK head coach Harry Mullins said. “Now we have to learn from that and keep moving forward. Very happy for Emmie and Jaden today, who really did a great job in air rifle.”
 
Kentucky put together an impressive air rifle performance Saturday with six of the best seven scores coming from a Wildcat. As a team, UK scored 2383 which was its best air rifle score of the season and the second-best score in the nation this year. Freshman Mary Tucker led the way with a 598, which is the fifth time this season she has scored a 598 or higher in air rifle. Sophomore Will Shaner posted a 596, followed by a 595 by freshman Emmie Sellers and a 594 by junior Hailee Sigmon, who returned to the lineup from surgery this fall to perform well. Sophomore Ruby Gomes rounded out the lineup with a 590. Freshman Jaden Thompson also performed well with a career-best 593.
 
The Wildcats started the match with a 2332 in smallbore paced again by Tucker and Shaner, who each scored 588. Five of the top eight scores in smallbore belonged to the Wildcats with Sigmon and Gomes scoring 578 followed by Thompson with a 577. Sellers scored a 572 in the discipline to round out a strong match for the freshman.
 
Tucker finished as the top individual at the match with an aggregate score of 1186. There have only been 10 scores of 1186 or more in the nation this season with Tucker earning six of those. Shaner finished second Saturday with a 1184 while Sigmon finished fourth with a 1172. Thompson finished sixth at 1170 while Gomes was seventh at 1168 and Sellers eighth at 1167. 
 
The Wildcats will return to action Sunday when they face Army at the Tronsue Marksmanship Center. Army also competed Saturday and scored a 2304 in smallbore and 2345 in air rifle for an aggregate score of 4649. The match will start at 8 a.m. ET and live stats are available at UKathletics.com.
 
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.