2015 NRA Intercollegiate Rifle Club Championship

The West Virginia University Rifle Club team had a roller coaster ride of a match during their first NRA Intercollegiate Rifle Club Championship this March. WVU beat a dozen other schools, with a grand aggregate score of 4363, out of a possible 4800. The team was forced to compete without their coach, who was unable to attend.

Earlier in March, WVU's Varsity Rifle team won the NCAA Rifle Championships in Fairbanks, Alaska. The WVU Rifle Program is the winningest one in collegiate shooting history, with 17 total NCAA championships and now their first NRA Intercollegiate Rifle championship.

Clemson University won 2nd place, with 4351 points, The previous champion, the Michigan Wolverines (2010, 2013-2014) had their hopes of a three-peat dashed by the skilled Mountaineer squad, and ended up taking home 3rd place, with a score of 4348.

Student-athletes from large schools such as Penn State and the University of Michigan competed shoulder-to-shoulder at the championship with lesser-known schools, such as Thomas Nelson Community College. Thomas Nelson’s sole representative at the match, Madeleine Godwin, was individual aggregate champion with a score of 1153, out of 1200 possible points. The race for silver and bronze was extremely tight this year, coming down to only two points. Rachel Mangen of Clemson University placed 2nd with a score of 1137, edging out 3rd place winner Cory Miller of Central New Mexico Community College’s score of 1135.

Regarding the individual champion, Kyle Jillson of NRABlog mentioned that “Madeleine was so in the zone during the final match that she didn't know how well she'd done until a former teammate came up to congratulate her after the final shot.”

"[They] congratulated me and I looked up the score like 'Oh my God I actually did that!'" Godwin explained. "I hadn't taken the time to do the math in my head."

Attendance surged this year to some 80 competitors, up from 51 competitors last year. Earlier this year, American Rifleman reported on the increase in shooting sports participation on college campuses throughout the nation.

Tori Croft, NRA national manager for Collegiate Programs said “This year's championship is the largest we've ever had and we're so excited for all the shooters. Thanks to competitive shooting growing so much at the collegiate level, we added additional relays. More [collegiate] rifle clubs can participate, and Fort Benning has plenty of room to accommodate them.”

2015 NRA INTERCOLLEGIATE RIFLE CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP—FINAL RESULTS
                                                                                                                                    

	Team	SBR	AIR	AGG
Winner	WVU	2116	2247	4363
2nd	Clemson	2099	2252	4351
3rd	Michigan	2080	2268	4348
	Purdue	2058	2176	4234
	Penn State	2084	2124	4208
	Wisconsin-Oshkosh	2047	2100	4147
	Georgia Military-ROTC	1937	2145	4082

INDIVIDUAL CHAMPIONSHIP
                                                                                                                                                                                             

	Competitor and School	SBR	AIR	AGG
Winner	Madeleine Godwin—Thomas Nelson C.C.	565	588	1153
2nd	Rachel Mangen—Clemson	561	576	1137
3rd	Cory Miller—Central New Mexico C.C.	554	581	1135
	Georgia Yarbrough—Central Piedmont C.C.	551	578	1129
	Wade Stroda—Kansas State	562	562	1124
	Aaron Ward—Michigan	548	568	1116

*Bold denotes high score.