Tucker, Shaner, Gomes, Nelson Earn All-GARC Honors

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Freshman Mary Tucker and sophomores Will Shaner, Ruby Gomes and Mitchell Nelson have earned All-Great American Rifle Conference honors for their impressive 2019-20 seasons. Tucker, Shaner and Gomes earned all-conference honors for their performances in the range while Nelson was honored for academic success.   
 
Tucker was named the GARC Shooter of the Year and GARC Rookie of the Year as she and Shaner each earned All-GARC First Team in smallbore, air rifle and combined. This is the second straight year the Wildcats have won GARC Rookie of the Year as Shaner took home the honors last season. Gomes was named All-GARC Second Team in air rifle while Nelson was GARC Scholar-Athlete.
 
“It’s a great honor for this program to have back-to-back GARC Rookies of the Year,” UK head coach Harry Mullins said. “To be an all-conference performance in the GARC you have to work really hard and stay focused every match because you are competing against All-Americans each time out. I am proud of Mary, Will, Ruby, Mitchell and each member of our team for how hard they have worked this season.”
 
Tucker has had a great rookie season for the Wildcats averaging a 590.692 in smallbore and 597.846 in air rifle for a 1188.538 aggregate. The native of Sarasota, Florida, is one of three shooters in the NCAA this season to post a smallbore score of 593 or above while she also has the top score in the discipline at 595. Tucker has been just as impressive in air rifle as one of four in the NCAA to score a 599 or better, earning that score an impressive four times this season. There have been nine individual aggregate scores in the NCAA this season at 1190 or above with Tucker earning seven of those scores.
 
The other two individual aggregate scores of 1190 or above this season belong to Shaner as the sophomore earns first-team All-GARC honors in smallbore, air rifle and combined for the second-straight season. The native of Colorado Springs, Colorado, is averaging a 587.667 in smallbore and 595.833 in air rifle for an aggregate average of 1183.500. Shaner’s best smallbore score of the season was a 594 back in November, which ties the second-best mark in the nation this season, while he also has scored a 593 and two 591s in the discipline. In air rifle, Shaner’s is one of four athletes in the NCAA with a 599, earning the high mark in the WVU Rifle Range earlier this month while he also had four 597s to his name this season.
 
This is the second All-GARC Second-Team honor for Gomes, who also earned the distinction last season. This year, she is averaging 589.538 in the discipline. At Army on Jan. 19, Gomes recorded a personal-best in the event scoring a 598. The native of Portsmouth, Rhode Island has scored a 595 or better four times this season, including back-to-back matches with a 596 at WVU and a 595 in the NCAA Qualifier last weekend in Lexington. The sophomore has been impressive the last few weeks, scoring her season-high aggregate score of 1193 in two of the last three matches.
 
Nelson was named Kentucky’s GARC Scholar-Athlete of the Year for his impressive work in the classroom. The sophomore has a cumulative GPA of 3.886 and is a double major in biology with a specialty in cellular, molecular and developmental while his other major is neuroscience. He is also minoring in cognitive science.
 
Kentucky will begin the GARC Championships this weekend in Memphis, Tennessee. The three-day event began Thursday night as all-conference honors were presented at the annual banquet. The competition begins with smallbore relays Friday and concludes with air rifle relays Saturday. Competition both days is scheduled to begin at approximately 9 a.m. ET with an eight-finalist individual format to follow each day. Army, Akron, Memphis, Navy, NC State, Nebraska, Ole Miss and 10-time defending champion West Virginia will join UK at the event. Live stats are available ukathletics.com.
 
Kentucky will play host to the 2020 NCAA Championships in Memorial Coliseum on March 13-14. Tickets are available online at UKAthletics.com/NCAARifle. Individual and team competitions in smallbore three-position (60 shots) will be held Friday, March 13, and individual and team competitions in air rifle (60 shots) will be held Saturday, March 14. The overall team champion will be determined by combining the smallbore and air rifle team total scores into one aggregate score for each institution.
 
2019-20 GARC All-Conference Honors
All-GARC Smallbore First Team
Mary Tucker, Kentucky        
Will Shaner, Kentucky          
Morgan Phillips, WVU
Milica Babic, WVU     
David Koenders, WVU
                                               
All-GARC Smallbore Second Team
Abby Buesseler, Ole Miss      
Akihito Shimizu, WVU
Malori Brown, WVU   
Clayton Hanson, Army           
Sarah Osborn, WVU   
                                               
All-GARC Smallbore Honorable Mention
Andre Gross, Akron    
Jared Eddy, WVU       
Wyatt Openshaw, Akron        
Emily Fisher, NC State
Emily Cheramie, Nebraska    
Hana Musser, Nebraska         
 
All-GARC Air Rifle First Team
Mary Tucker, Kentucky
Will Shaner, Kentucky
Milica Babic, WVU
Verena Zaisberger, WVU
Akihito Shimizu, WVU
                       
All-GARC Air Rifle Second Team
Ruby Gomes, Kentucky
David Koenders, WVU
Sarah Osborn, WVU
Elena Flake, Nebraska
Macey Way, Nebraska
                       
All-GARC Air Rifle Honorable Mention
Kaitlyn Kutz, Army
Kera Kaufman, Akron
Gabriella Mayes, Navy
Abby Buesseler, Ole Miss
Jared Eddy, WVU
 
All-GARC Combined First Team
Mary Tucker, Kentucky
Will Shaner, Kentucky
Milica Babic, WVU
David Koenders, WVU
Akihito Shimizu, WVU
           
All-GARC Combined Second Team
Sarah Osborn, WVU
Abby Buesseler, Ole Miss
Morgan Phillips, WVU
Jared Eddy, WVU
Clayton Hanson, Army
Elena Flake, Nebraska
Malori Brown, WVU
           
All-GARC Combined Honorable Mention
Verena Zaisberger, WVU
Kera Kaufman, Akron
Kaitlyn Kutz, Army
Wyatt Openshaw, Akron
Emily Cheramie, Nebraska
 
GARC Shooter of the Year
Mary Tucker, Kentucky
 
GARC Rookie of the Year
Mary Tucker, Kentucky
 
GARC Senior of the Year
Milica Babic, WVU
 
GARC Coach of the Year
Newt Engle, Akron
 
GARC Assistant Coach of the Year
JP Lucas, Ole Miss
 
GARC Sportsmanship Award
Akron
 
GARC Scholar-Athletes of the Year
Maddie Korthas, Nebraska
Emily Gay, Army
Mitchell Nelson, Kentucky
David Koenders, WVU
Mark Meyeraan, Memphis
Abby Buesseler, Ole Miss
John Peterson, NC State
Torrance Kang, Navy
Kera Kaufman, Akron
 
For the latest on the Kentucky rifle team, follow @UKRifle on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, as well as on the web at UKathletics.com.