LEXINGTON, Ky. - Spend a day in Kentucky and you’ll hear tales of college sports heroes who walked a football field or basketball court. But there’s a program at UK rivaling any team’s accomplishments, and their banners hang in a basement gun range.
That’s just fine with the UK rifle team. The quiet helps them concentrate.
For the current #3 team in the country, total commitment to marksmanship is the name of the game. When the target is 10 meters away and the bullseye is the size of a pen tip, caffeine jitters are not an option.
“I don’t drink caffeine before I shoot - especially in matches - or eat sugar,” said freshman Emmie Sellers. She was recruited from Colorado. Unsurprisingly, Sellers said she grew up shooting with family, but that the $3,000 air rifle she uses now is unlike anything she’d handled before.
To maximize control, the shooters stick their lead hip out and rest their elbow on it. The uniforms look like if a revolutionary war general was also a dirt bike enthusiast. But every inch of leather has a purpose, supporting the athletes for over an hour straight. Taking a single shot can take a minute of prep.
“We’re kind of a funny sport because, most sports, it’s kind of like, you wanna run faster, jump higher, be stronger,” said assistant coach Rena Curvey. “We want to stay as still as we can and we want to slow our heart rate down as much as we can, and we sit in really odd positions.”
In the fall season finale Saturday against Navy , and led by freshman Mary Tucker’s near-perfect score, the Cats remained in the top-3 nationally. Tucker’s considered one of the best in the nation, has confidence in spades, and spoke about the upcoming Olympic trials the way an average adult might talk about slow-pitch softball.
“I’m pretty confident that I will make [the Olympic team],” Tucker said without a sliver of arrogance. “I just gotta make sure that my scores are where I want them and just keep having fun with it.”
With tenacity like that, it’s easy to see why the Wildcats continue to hit their mark.