No. 3 Rifle Heads to Akron to Start 2022-23 Season – UK Athletics

October 7, 2022

LEXINGTON, Ky. – The preseason coaching is full and it’s time for the 2022-23 College of Kentucky rifle season to start. The Wildcats, who’ve received three of the final 4 NCAA Rifle Nationwide Championships – together with two straight – will kickstart the season Saturday at Akron.

The primary relay Saturday will start at approx. 8:30 a.m. ET. Dwell targets from smallbore and air rifle shall be accessible by means of the Akron Zipps web site through YouTube.com. Closing outcomes shall be accessible at NCAARifle.org. Murray State can also be competing this weekend, however the Wildcats are going head-to-head solely with Akron to start Nice America Rifle Convention competitors.

“I’m excited to begin the season this weekend and see this squad towards exterior competitors,” UK head coach Harry Mullins stated. “I believe our preseason coaching has been good, however we’ve loads of areas for enchancment. A few of these areas will solely improve to the extent we wish from competitors expertise. It’s a enjoyable group to be round day-after-day and they’re working extraordinarily onerous. Tomorrow is an efficient take a look at and I’m trying ahead to being within the vary with them.”

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Kentucky begins its season ranked No. 3 within the newest Collegiate Rifle Coaches Affiliation Prime 20, sitting behind TCU and Alaska-Fairbanks, respectively. Akron is ranked tenth in that itemizing whereas Murray State is seventh.

Main the Wildcats once more this season shall be fifth-year senior Will Shaner, who received the NCAA smallbore nationwide championship final yr. The All-American is joined again on the road by fellow fifth-year senior and All-American Richard Clark. Clark carried out brilliantly for UK on the nationwide championships. Two different members of UK’s nationwide championship lineup are returning in senior Jaden Thompson and sophomore Allison Buesseler, who clinched the title with a powerful air rifle end. Additionally returning is fifth-year senior Mitchell Nelson, seniors Mason Hamilton and Emmie Sellers and sophomores Kayla Kalenza and Tori Kopelen.

New to the staff this season are three freshmen in Anthony Hotko, Martin Voss and Sofia Ceccarello. Hotko is an American product from Batavia, Illinois, whereas Voss and Ceccarello are worldwide stars. Voss involves UK from Norway the place he was one of the vital achieved junior performers in his nation, whereas Ceccarello is from Italy and represented her house nation within the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

After the match vs. Akron, Kentucky will return to Lexington for its house opener vs. NC State subsequent Saturday. After a weekend off, UK will host Navy and North Georgia on Oct. 29 earlier than touring to West Virginia to compete towards WVU, TCU and Alaska on Nov. 5-6. UK will host the Kentucky Lengthy Rifle Match on Nov. 12 with Murray State and Morehead State. The autumn schedule will conclude Nov. 19 at Ole Miss and Nov. 20 at Memphis.

The winter schedule will begin in Fairbanks, Alaska for the Wildcats towards Alaska Fairbanks on Jan. 14 and Georgia Southern on Jan. 15. The next weekend, UK will go to Murray State to compete within the Withrow Invitational. The winter regular-season slate ends with UK internet hosting matches vs. Military and North Georgia on Jan. 28 and West Virginia on Feb. 11. The Wildcats will host a NCAA Qualifier on Feb. 18 to start postseason competitors.

The Nice America Rifle Convention Championships shall be held Feb. 25-26 in Morgantown, West Virginia. The NCAA Championships are schedule for March 10-11 in Akron, Ohio.

For extra info on the Kentucky rifle staff, go to UKathletics.com or observe UKRifle on Twitter, Instagram and Fb.