Rifle Hosts Morehead State for First In-Person Match of 2020-21

LEXINGTON, Ky. – After an impressive win in its virtual match against No. 5 Akron last weekend, the No. 2 University of Kentucky rifle team returns to Barker Hall Rifle Range on Saturday as it hosts its first in-person match of the season against No. 15 Morehead State. The Wildcats will also be competing virtually against Army on Saturday with competition getting underway at 9 a.m. ET.
 
Kentucky and Army will be connected electronically and although the UK-Army scores will count towards Great America Rifle Conference standings only the UK-Morehead State scores will count towards NCAA qualifying. Due to the COVID-19 public health threat, fans will not be admitted into UK rifle matches this fall, but live targets will be available online through UKathletics.com.
 
“I am excited to have a head-to-head match this week,” UK head coach Harry Mullins said. “In fact, we will have both head-to-head and a virtual match at the same time. I think our squad is excited to have another team on the line with them and put themselves through that test. They have been working hard all week since our last performance and I feel they are ready to test themselves again to see where we stack up. Morehead State is a good program and they are always ready to compete. I am looking forward to the match.”
 
In its first action of the season last weekend vs. Akron, the Wildcats performed well in both smallbore and air rifle, defeating the Zips in both disciplines in a virtual match. UK scored a 2347 in smallbore and 2368 in air rifle to earn its first win of the season. Sophomore Mary Tucker performed well for the Wildcats, posting the highest smallbore score of the match at 596. The strong smallbore score was a career-high mark for Tucker, who was the national shooter and national freshman of the year last season. Tucker completed the match with a 594 in air rifle and secured the top overall performer title for the match with an 1190 aggregate.
 
Junior Will Shaner was impressive in the season opener, scoring a match-best 597 in air rifle and 586 in smallbore. Fellow junior Richard Clark scored a 587 in both disciplines, which tied his career best smallbore score while sophomore Mason Hamilton had a career performance in smallbore with a 578 and followed with a strong air rifle of 584. Fellow sophomore Jaden Thompson scored a 578 in smallbore and 588 in air rifle, while fellow sophomore Emmie Sellers scored a career-best 576 in smallbore and followed with a strong 589 in air rifle
 
Morehead State is coming off a 1-1 weekend where it played two matches at Murray State, falling to the Racers 4674-4649 before defeating UT Martin the following day 4652-4564. The Eagles are ranked 15th in the latest Collegiate Rifle Coaches Association Top 20 poll.
 
This will be Army’s first competition of the fall season as the Black Knights are also scheduled to have virtual matches in the coming weeks against West Virginia and Nebraska. 
 
For the latest on the Kentucky rifle team, follow @UKRifle on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, as well as on the web at UKathletics.com.