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Go Big Blue!

The University of Kentucky is well-known for having a continued track record of success in a few different college sports; basketball and cheerleading have been champions over and over again. But one sport that doesn’t get nearly as much attention is the rifle team, and Kentucky might have one of the best programs in the country in that area, too.

A pair of student-athletes on the Kentucky rifle team has qualified for the U.S. Olympic team, locking up two of the four spots for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.

Freshman Mary Tucker earned one of the two available female spots while sophomore Will Shaner secured one of the two male spots.

Tucker was the top-scorer at the women’s competition of the U.S. Olympic Team Trials back in early February. The Florida native beat out 2016 Olympic gold medalist, Ginny Thrasher.

Shaner has been setting and holding national records since he was 15 years old. The Colorado Springs native was the NCAA Rookie of the Year as a freshman and came to Kentucky as one of the nation’s top overall rifle prospects.

Now the two will represent the Big Blue Nation when they travel to Tokyo later this year.

It seems appropriate to me that Kentucky has one of the best rifle programs in the country. Congrats to those two shooters, and good luck to them in Tokyo!

I'll be cheering for ANYBODY who goes to the Tokyo Olympics to shoot.

...and making the most of it - this might just be the very last time that shooting is in the sporting line-up. No doubt it will be replaced by competitive cake-decorating or hat design.