Alaska-Fairbanks Wins NCAA Smallbore Rifle Team Championship

Led by junior Rachael Charles, the University of Alaska-Fairbanks Nanooks rifle team clinches 2025 NCAA smallbore team title.

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posted on March 18, 2025
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NCAA2025 Airrifle Champs 1
Alaska-Fairbanks secured the smallbore team national championship trophy with a 2355-147X score at the 2025 NCAA rifle championships in Lexington, Ky., on Friday, March 15, edging out host school Kentucky by one point to stand on top of the awards podium.
Photo by John Parker

The University of Alaska-Fairbanks rifle team fired a score of 2355-147X at the 2025 NCAA rifle championships on Friday, March 15, to win the team smallbore title by one point over host school Kentucky. The match was held at the University of Kentucky’s Memorial Coliseum on Megalink electronic targets.

Top three teams
The top three smallbore teams on the podium: runner-up Kentucky, winner Alaska-Fairbanks and third place WVU.

 

Kentucky was the runner-up in smallbore with 2354-135X and in third place was West Virginia University with 2350-145X.

The top shooter in smallbore for Alaska-Fairbanks was junior Rachael Charles with a score of 595-47X, followed by graduate student Cecelia Ossi with 593-39X, senior Sára Karasová with 585-28X, plus two freshmen—Lucie Kissenberger with 582-33X and Amanda Pettersen with 581-27X.

Besides winning the smallbore team championship, Alaska-Fairbanks rifle team competitor Cecelia Ossi claimed the individual smallbore title on Friday afternoon after a stellar performance in the final. (Read our recap.)

Not only that, Alaska-Fairbanks junior Rachael Charles was the smallbore individual runner-up after posting a score of 463.6 in the final, giving the Nanooks a one-two punch on the smallbore individual podium. Additionally, Charles was honored with the 2025 NCAA Shooter of the Championship award.

In an interview with Nathan Kyle Pearsall at alaskananooks.com, Alaska-Fairbanks Head Coach Will Anti said, “Rachael [Charles] capped her amazing career with the Shooter of the Championship honor. Rachael has had a long journey with the Nanooks and this is the most appropriate ending imaginable.”

Rachael Charles
Alaska-Fairbanks junior Rachael Charles posted a 595-47X smallbore regulation score and 463.6 final score to land in second place in the 2025 NCAA smallbore individual championship.

 

2025 NCAA SMALLBORE RIFLE TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP LEADERBOARD

  1. Alaska-Fairbanks, 2355-147X
  2. Kentucky, 2354-135X
  3. WVU, 2350-145X
  4. TCU, 2335-126X
  5. Ole Miss, 2333-124X
  6. Georgia Southern, 2333-113X
  7. Murray State, 2322-111X
  8. Air Force, 2321-117X

You can see the full results of the 2025 NCAA rifle championships at this link.

Be on the lookout for a full match report from the 2025 NCAA rifle championships in a future issue of the digital magazine.

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