Kentucky Rifle Announces 2025-26 Schedule
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Returning a good core of athletes from its national runner-up finish last season, the 2025-26 edition of the Kentucky rifle team is moving closer to another exciting year of competition and has announced a challenging schedule for the upcoming season.
Kentucky, which has won three of the last seven NCAA Championships with team titles in 2018, 2021 and 2022, is set to compete all over the nation this season. After a competitive schedule from October to February, the Wildcats will compete in the Great America Rifle Conference Championships in late February and hope to qualify for their 32nd NCAA Championship appearance in March. The 2025-26 season will be the 38th season with head coach Harry Mullins at the helm. Mullins, who is joined only by legendary men’s basketball coach Adolph Rupp as the only head coaches in UK Athletics history with four national titles with the Wildcats, is excited for another great season ahead.
“Hard to believe it is already time to announce our 2025-26 schedule, but we are starting to get excited about the fall quickly approaching and getting things going,” Mullins said. “Our athletes have been competing and fine-tuning their skills all over the world this summer and its always fun for them to return to campus and get practicing so we can see what they have been working on. This group should be fun to be around and watch grow together with some strong veterans and exciting younger competitors. I cannot wait for November 1 to be here so we can compete in front of Big Blue Nation again.”
The 2025-26 season will begin hopefully where it ends as the Wildcats will travel to Ohio State on Oct. 11 for a dual match. The Buckeyes will host the 2026 NCAA Rifle National Championships inside St. John Arena in mid-March. The last time Ohio State hosted the championships was in 2021 when Kentucky won its third team title while former Wildcat Mary Tucker claimed individual national titles in both disciplines.
Following its season lid-lifter, UK will continue a road trip to start the year with a dual match at Navy on Oct. 18 and a two-match trip to Army West Point on Oct. 25-26. UK will conclude the fall with three of its last four matches inside Barker Hall starting on Nov. 1 vs. North Georgia. UK will host Memphis on Nov. 8 before traveling to Morgantown, West Virginia for the Fall Classic on Nov. 15-16. The fall concludes with a home dual match with Murray State on Nov. 22.
The winter portion of the schedule will begin with a trip to Fairbanks, Alaska on Jan. 17-18, squaring off against Alaska and Nebraska across two days of competition. UK’s annual showing in the Withrow Open will be Jan. 24 at Murray State before UK concludes January with a home dual match with Akron on Jan. 31. UK’s final regular-season dual match of the season will be Feb. 14 at WVU before hosting a NCAA Qualifier with Georgia Southern and Morehead State on Feb. 20-21 inside Barker Hall.
Postseason competition begins at the Great America Rifle Conference Championships in West Point, New York on Feb. 28-March 1. The two-day event will feature smallbore and air rifle team and individual competitions. It will be the final tune-up before the NCAA Championships March 13-14 in Columbus, Ohio.
All home matches will be held inside the UK Rifle Range, which is inside Barker Hall. Matches normally follow a similar schedule with sighting and prep for smallbore beginning at 8 a.m. ET. 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 to all home matches is free.
Kentucky is coming off a runner-up finish at the 2025 NCAA Rifle National Championships, which the program hosted inside Historic Memorial Coliseum. The Wildcats finished just one point shy of tying for the team title, earning its seventh runner-up finish in program history. Rising junior Braden Peiser posted a 599 in air rifle competition and finished second in the air rifle final after a one-shot shoot off.
The Wildcats will return two unanimous Collegiate Rifle Coaches Association All-America honorees to its 2025-26 roster in Peiser and senior Sofia Ceccarello. Peiser and Ceccarello were both first-team All-America in aggregate, smallbore and air rifle. Both had incredible seasons for Kentucky with Peiser leading Kentucky in smallbore average and aggregate average, while Ceccarello led in air rifle average and was second on the team in aggregate average.
Also returning for Kentucky will be CRCA All-America honorees Sam Adkins and Martin Voss, who both competed in the NCAA Championships last season. Adkins was honorable mention in smallbore and air rifle, while Voss was honorable mention in smallbore. UK’s other 2025 NCAA Championships squadded competitor was Liz Probst, who had an incredible rookie season for UK. Probst earned a silver medal in smallbore at the GARC Championships last season and made the NCAA Championships smallbore individual final, finishing seventh. Both Adkins and Probst are poised for strong sophomore seasons, while Voss will be entering his senior year.
Also returning will be senior AJ Hotko, junior Emily Marne and sophomores Brandon Evans and Hannah Todd. The Wildcats will also add several impressive junior competitors that should add great depth to Team 38.
Kentucky is one of the most decorated programs in NCAA rifle history, with four national titles – 2011, 2018, 2021 and 2022 – seven runner-up finishes and 24 top-five finishes.
For more information on the Kentucky rifle team, visit UKathletics.com or follow UKRifle on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
