No. 2 Rifle Starts 2024-25 Season Saturday at Home
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Looking to build off a great offseason of work with some veteran returners and impressive newcomers added to the mix, the No. 2 University of Kentucky rifle team starts its 2024-25 season Saturday by hosting a dual match with Morehead State inside the UK Rifle Range at Barker Hall.
Sights and prep for smallbore will begin at 9 a.m. ET with air rifle getting underway at approx. 11 a.m. ET. There will only be one smallbore relay Saturday, followed by two air rifle relays. Spectators are invited to watch smallbore scores up in Barker Hall and enjoy free breakfast during the first part of the relay. The range will be open to spectators for air rifle. Admission is free.
Another way for fans to follow along both in-person and watching at home will be live commentary online to help provide a breakdown of the action and how the teams and competitors are performing. Former UK All-American Billy Azzinaro, who helped lead UK to the 2018 NCAA Championship, will be providing commentary of the first relay on Saturday. The live commentary will be available through the UK Rifle Facebook Page, along with live targets and a NCAA scorecard.
“Excited to get the 2024-25 season underway and look forward to being in the range with the team,” UK head coach Harry Mullins said. “We have a lot of work left to do to get to our best, but I have been happy with our progress early on. Nothing can substitute being in the range against other competition and getting that feel and experience. This weekend will be step one for our squad as we try to be at our best come March.”
Kentucky is coming off a strong 2023-24 season that saw the Wildcats finish third nationally in smallbore and air rifle for a fourth-place team finish at the 2024 NCAA Rifle Championships. The Wildcats finished second overall at the 2024 GARC Championships and posted an impressive 4745 season-high team score at Alaska during the season.
The Wildcats will return two Collegiate Rifle Coaches Association All-America honorees to its 2024-25 roster in junior Sofia Ceccarello and sophomore Braden Peiser. Ceccarello was named first-team CRCA All-America in aggregate, smallbore and air rifle last season while Peiser was second-team All-America in air rifle. Both had incredible seasons for Kentucky with Ceccarello leading Kentucky in smallbore, air rifle and aggregate average. The Italian superstar posted a 590 or higher three times in smallbore last season while she led the nation with five 599 air rifle scores. Ceccarello made two individual finals during the year, finishing fifth in both the GARC air rifle final and NCAA smallbore final. She was also an All-GARC performer during the 2023-24 season.
Peiser had a great rookie season for Kentucky, finishing second on the team in smallbore, air rifle and aggregate average. Peiser really shined late in the season, posting and then besting career high marks in all three categories in the final three matches of the year. He made all four individual finals at the GARCs and NCAA, finishing with GARC gold in air rifle and bronze in smallbore. At the NCAA Championships, Peiser finished sixth in the smallbore final and took home silver in the air rifle final.
Also returning for Kentucky will be seniors Allison Buesseler and Tori Kopelen, juniors Martin Voss and AJ Hotko and sophomore Emily Marne. The Wildcats added four rookies to this year’s team. True freshmen Liz Probst, Sam Adkins, Brandon Evans and Hannah Todd figure to add much depth to the program as all three enter Lexington with an accomplished junior record.
This will also be Morehead State’s first match of the season. Morehead State ended its season last year with a 4640 score in the NCAA Qualifier.
Kentucky will be back in action next weekend at Georgia Southern on Oct. 12. The Wildcats return to Lexington on Oct. 26 for a tri-match with Navy and North Georgia before a dual match at Ole Miss on Nov. 2. After a week off, UK wraps the fall portion of the schedule with three competitions across eight days starting with a home tri-match with Army and Murray State on Nov. 16. The following weekend UK travels to Colorado Springs, Colorado for two matches beginning Nov. 23 vs. Akron and ending Nov. 24 vs. Air Force and Akron.
The NCAA Rifle Championships return to Lexington for the first time since 2020. The two-day event will see the best air rifle and smallbore competitors in the nation compete on the historic Memorial Coliseum floor. The smallbore competition will be March 14 followed by air rifle competition on March 15. Ticket information and full schedule of events for the championships will be announced later.
For more information on the Kentucky rifle team, visit UKathletics.com or follow UKRifle on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
