Lexington, Kentucky – The No. 2-ranked Kentucky Wildcats commenced their home season at Barker Hall with a decisive 4724-4702 victory over No. 9 Murray State, largely fueled by a flawless air rifle performance from senior Braden Peiser. Peiser meticulously placed all 60 of his air rifle shots into the 10-ring, achieving a perfect 600-53X with his Walther LG500 itec.
This marks Peiser’s third perfect score of his collegiate career and his first since the 2025 Great America Rifle Conference Championships held at WVU in Morgantown, West Virginia. His initial 600 came earlier that same season at Alaska-Fairbanks, a 600-59X performance that currently shares the NCAA record for center shots on a perfect card with former teammate Sofia Ceccarello, now a graduate assistant coach for the Wildcats, and Jacksonville State’s Frans Rasmusson.
Peiser also set the pace in smallbore, posting a 592-37X which included a strong 199 in prone. While Murray State’s Mallory Johnson matched Peiser point for point and X for X in smallbore, her standing air rifle performance ultimately decided the overall outcome. Peiser concluded the match with an aggregate score of 1192-90X, securing a nine-point lead over Johnson’s 1183. Kentucky Head Coach Harry Mullins remarked on the effort, stating, "Proud of Braden, that took a lot of determination and focus to do today."
Beyond Peiser's standout performance, two other Wildcats achieved personal bests. Freshman Maggie Palfrey and sophomore Jacob St. Hilaire each posted a career-high 597-49X in air rifle. Palfrey’s aggregate of 1180 placed her third overall. As a team, Kentucky secured the air rifle portion with a 2383, after winning smallbore by five points, 2341-2336.
Peiser's perfect 600 is notably the sixth such score in an NCAA rifle season that is barely two weeks old. Each weekend of competition so far has produced at least one perfect card. The exceptional run began on September 26, when West Virginia sophomore Océanne Muller fired a 600-57X against Mount Aloysius College in Morgantown. Muller then achieved consecutive perfect matches on October 3 at Army’s Tronsrue Marksmanship Center in West Point, New York, a first for a Mountaineer. The following day, junior teammate Jennifer Kocher added her first career 600 on the same range.
That Sunday, at Ohio State’s Converse Hall in Columbus, Ohio, Navy’s Isabella Baldwin and Tyler Wee both delivered 600s in air rifle, coupled with identical 595s in smallbore. Baldwin's 58 Xs edged Wee's 57 in air rifle, marking the second time this pair has achieved perfect scores in the same match, with the first occurring last February at The Citadel.
In the season's initial 15 days, five different shooters from three programs have collectively produced six perfect scores. This pace exceeds last season’s tally of 13 perfect scores before the NCAA Championship, which represented over a quarter of every 600 fired in the NCAA’s 60-shot era. The impressive streak is set to continue as Kentucky hosts No. 15 Akron and West Virginia visits Georgia Southern next Saturday.
