UK won the NCAA Rifle Championships last year for the first time in school history. This year's team is also strong, as the Wildcats won the Great American Rifle Conference. (Note: The Great American Rifle Conference -- which is the best name of any conference on earth -- exists because the conferences to which its members usually belong do not sponsor rifle competitions. In other words, there is no SEC Rifle Championship, so UK shoots for the GARC title instead. The members of the GARC are: Army, Kentucky, Memphis, North Carolina State, Nebraska, Ole Miss, and West Virginia.)
Now the RifleCats have moved on to the NCAA tournament in Columbus, Ohio. Only eight schools have qualified, and they are a high-powered bunch:
Alaska-Fairbanks (winner in 1994, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, and 2008; runner-up in 1991, 1992, 1993, 1998, and 2010)
Army (2005 winner; runner-up 2007 and 2008)
Jacksonville State (2005 runner-up)
Kentucky (2011 winner; runner-up in 2001, 2002, and 2009)
Nevada (2004 runner-up)
Texas Christian (2010 winner)
Texas-El Paso
West Virginia (winner in 1983, 1984, 1986, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, and 2009; runner-up in 1980, 1981, 1982, 1985, 1987, 1994, and 2011)
Last year, Kentucky beat West Virginia with 4,700 points to 4,697 points, which seems incredibly close.
Kentucky goes into the tournament as the number 2 team in the country. The favorite is Texas Christian, the 2010 champ who beat UK 4,703 to 4,693 in Fort Worth earlier this year. But we'll see if the Horned Frogs can do as well on neutral ground.
If you want to watch the rifle championships, you can do so at this web page.
Tennessee Tech won the first three NCAA rifle championships, in 1980, 1981, and 1982.
ReplyDeleteMurray State won the title in 1985.
The NCAA Rifle Championships actually look at lot like the College Bowl tournaments I used to do. There's the same bland campus environment, with little banners here and there to designate the event. There's the same sense of a little world, where everyone knows everyone else, and some people are treated like big stars -- even though no one outside this world has heard of them.
ReplyDeleteI can just imagine the UK team driving up to Columbus in a couple of mini-vans, with all of their stuff carefully packed away, maybe stopping just the other side of Cincinnati to get something to eat.
I'm very happy for all of them, and I really hope the Cats win.
Excellent, excellent. I love these types of experiences. It's often a happy life that is filled with them.
DeleteRifle, by the way, is one of the few co-ed sports sanctioned by the NCAA. Men and women play on the same teams.
ReplyDeleteThat is a really, really cool thing, too.
DeleteIt's just like that one episode of Andy Griffith where Andy dates the woman who turns out to be the great skeet shooter.
DeleteHere's the roster for UK's team. I have no idea if all of these kids get to shoot or not:
ReplyDeleteSenior:
Ethan Settlemires, Kossuth, MS
Juniors:
Katie Fretts, Scottdale, PA
Heather Greathouse, Nelson, NH
Aaron Holsopple, Wilcox, PA
James Jasis, Dycusburg, KY (Lyon County H.S.)
Henri Junghanel, Breuberg, GERMANY
Ed Ryznar, Titusville, PA
Stacy Wheatley, Louisville, KY (Iroquois H.S.)
Sophomores:
Dayna Ferguson, Oregon, OH
Emily Holsopple, Wilcox, PA
Freshmen:
Elijah Ellis, Kingsport, TN
Cody Manning, London, KY (S. Laurel H.S.)
Ethan Marne, Mount Pleasant, PA
Jonathan Pinkel, Lansing, MI
John Sutton, Ocean Springs, MS
I drove across Lyon County just last night! I wish I had known. See? Again, it's always a mistake to not read The Heath Post!
DeleteIt's always a mistake to not read The Heath Post!
Oh, I like the sound of that!
Now that I think about it, that's too many people and equipment to go in mini-vans. I bet they have a nice chartered bus.
ReplyDeleteBut I still think they probably stopped on the other side of Cincinnati to get something eat.
The UK rifle coach is Harry Mullins. He is a native of Burgau, Germany, who grew up as an "army brat." He became a citizen at the age of 18 and enrolled at UK, where he was a powerful competitor on the rifle team.
ReplyDeleteHe took over as coach in 1987, the year after he graduated, and has been there ever since. He was the Great American Rifle Conference Coach of the Year in 1994, 2001, and 2006 -- and he has led the rifle program to seven top three national finishes.
His career looks a lot like Pat Summitt's.
DeleteThis lead me to watching the 15k women's classical cross country skiing event.
ReplyDeleteAccording to a tweet from the UK rifle team, they won today's smallbore shooting competition. Here were the scores:
ReplyDeleteKentucky: 2,328
Army: 2,325
TCU: 2,323
Alaska-Fairbanks: 2,312
Nevada: 2,306
Jacksonville State: 2,304
UTEP: 2,303
W. Virginia: 2,297
Tomorrow is the air rifle competition. I think they add the scores from small bore and air rifle together to determine the national champion.