The 2026-27 NCAA rifle season opens this weekend, and here’s a look at the nation’s top programs and what each brings to the range.
West Virginia opens its bid for a third straight NCAA rifle championship Sept. 26 at home against Mount Aloysius. Last March at Ohio State’s Covelli Center, the Mountaineers sat fourth after smallbore before rallying for a record 21st national title. Their 2395-211X in air rifle tied the NCAA team record, powered by 599s from Griffin Lake, Oceanne Muller and Jennifer Kocher, and WVU finished with a championship-record 4748-355X team aggregate, seven points and one X ahead of runner-up TCU.
No collegiate rifle program has won three straight NCAA titles since WVU’s five-year run ended in 2017, and nine returning shooters give the Mountaineers every chance to change that. Lake, now a senior and the reigning NCAA individual aggregate champion, leads the lineup with fellow senior Lauri Syrja. Muller reached both the air rifle and smallbore finals as a freshman, and Kocher and Camryn Camp head a deep junior class for coach Jon Hammond, who is chasing his ninth title. A big test arrives Nov. 14-15, when Morgantown hosts the Fall Classic against the rest of last season’s top five programs.
TCU finished second last March and this season lose Katie Zaun and Mikole Hogan, who both reached the air rifle final in their final collegiate match. Christina Hillinger, Rylie Passmore and Marissa Fedora were all solid contributors at the championship and now anchor coach Karen Monez’s lineup. The Horned Frogs’ season opener is Sept. 26 at Navy, their sixth straight season-opener in Annapolis, and host Ole Miss on Nov. 7 in a rematch of last year’s second- and third-place teams.
Ole Miss returns four of its five championship competitors, led by two-time NCAA air rifle champion Audrey Gogniat. Gracie Dinh, Regan Diamond and Jordan de Jesus are also back for coach Will Shaner’s second season after the Rebels won the NCAA smallbore team title and placed third overall. Ole Miss opens at home Sept. 26 against UT Martin and Ohio State. On Jan. 17, Kentucky visits Oxford, and Gogniat shares the line again with Braden Peiser, who beat her in last year’s smallbore final.
Peiser gives Kentucky the country’s best smallbore shooter. The senior won the NCAA title in the discipline and set an NCAA record during the regular season. Elizabeth Probst and Sam Adkins return after breakout sophomore seasons, and coach Harry Mullins adds four freshmen plus former All-American Sofia Ceccarello as a graduate assistant. The Wildcats open Oct. 3 at Georgia Southern and host West Virginia on Feb. 13.
Nebraska missed fourth place last March by X-count, and the Huskers’ roster returns this season with the shooter who nearly stole the air rifle title. Katlyn Sullivan led much of that final as a freshman before Gogniat caught up with her. Sullivan is one of seven returners for third-year coach and 2022 NRA Lones Wigger Iron Many Trophy winner Richard Clark, a group that includes senior Charlie Mick and top shooters Maddy Moyer, Alivia Perkins and Carley Seabrooke. The Huskers open Sept. 26 at home against Akron and host the PRC Championships on Feb. 5-6.
Navy placed sixth at the 2026 NCAA rifle championship, and senior Isabella Baldwin now captaining the team under coach Mike Anti. A nine-time CRCA All-American from Nashville, Baldwin and teammate Tyler Wee each shot a perfect 600 in air rifle at the same match last season, believed to be a first for NCAA teammates. The Midshipmen host TCU and VMI in their Sept. 26 opener and travel to Morgantown to face West Virginia on Jan. 23.
Georgia Southern finished seventh in only its second NCAA championship appearance, and air rifle carried it there. After posting 202 Xs in that discipline, the Eagles were ranked third in the field. Coach Soren Butler’s team opens at home against Kentucky on Oct. 3 and welcomes West Virginia on Oct. 17-18. Coach Butler is a former assistant coach for the Mountaineers under Jon Hammond. Additionally, Butler was named to the NCAA Rifle Committee starting this season.
Alaska-Fairbanks owns 11 NCAA titles, second only to West Virginia, and finished eighth last March, well below its usual standard. Second-year coach Randi Loudin has the Nanooks home for five weekends, starting Oct. 16 against an Ohio State rifle program that Alaska-Fairbanks has beaten 16 straight times. The marquee weekend comes Jan. 16-17, when West Virginia visits Fairbanks for the first time since the Nanooks won a top-five showdown in 2023.
Outside last year’s championship field, keep an eye on Akron and coach Newt Engle. Matthew Kimball, the Zips’ Rookie of the Year last season, and Logan McClimans lead the returners. Freshman Maddie Allen set an NRA 3-Position national record this summer, and classmate Megan Fondy is the reigning National JROTC 3-Position air rifle champion. Akron opens Sept. 26 at Nebraska and hosts Ohio State on Jan. 31 for in-state bragging rights.
NCAA qualifying matches wrap up Feb. 20, and the top eight teams and individual qualifiers head to Statesboro, Georgia, for the 2027 NCAA Rifle Championship on March 12-13. Georgia Southern hosts for the first time in program history, inside its new Jack and Ruth Ann Hill Convocation Center. Smallbore opens the event Friday and air rifle follows Saturday, with an individual final closing each day. West Virginia has come from behind to win the last two. Everyone else in Statesboro will be trying to make sure it doesn’t get the chance again.
See the full 2026-2027 NCAA rifle season schedule at ncaarifle.org.
