Kentucky rifle takes down No. 1 Ole Miss in Oxford

Kentucky+Rifle

Kentucky Rifle

Aaron Benjamin, Reporter

No. 3 Kentucky rifle defeated No. 1 Ole Miss on Saturday by a score of 4741-4723 on Saturday.

The Cats were led by Sofia Ceccarello and Richard Clark with the smallbore and Allison Buesseler and Ceccarello with the air rifle. 

Starting with the smallbore, Kentucky scored a 2349.

Ceccarello and the fifth-year Clark led the way with scores of 590 while mens 10-meter air rifle gold medalist Will Shaner scored a 585 and Buesseler and Kayla Kalenza put up scores of 584 and 582 respectively.

In air rifle, Buesseler and Clark matched each other with a score of 599 while Kalenza scored a 597, her career high in this event. Shaner also scored a 597 while Clark recorded a 592 in the second event. 

Beyond those reliable shooters, other Wildcats also recorded good scores in the event.

The trio of seniors Emmie Sellers, Jaden Thompson and Mason Hamilton put up scores of 585, 582, and 584 respectively in smallbore, while they put up scores of 597, 593 and 588 with the air rifle. 

Senior Mitchell Nelson, sophomore Tori Kopelen, freshman Martin Voss and AJ Hotko also chipped in for the road team.

Nelson scored a 583 in smallbore and 593 in air rifle, Kopelen put up a 574 in smallbore and matched Nelson’s air rifle score, Voss recorded a 584 go on the scoreboard in the smallbore category and a 587 with the air rifle and Hotko scored a 532 in smallbore and 587 in air rifle. 

The victory came after the team won in a match against fellow Kentucky universities Morehead State and Murray State on Saturday, Nov. 12.

Next, the Cats will travel to Tennessee to face Memphis on Sunday, Nov. 20, which will mark the final competition of 2022 for the team.