Cecelia Ossi Wins NCAA Smallbore Individual Championship For 2nd NCAA Title

University of Alaska-Fairbanks rifle team shooter Cecelia Ossi won the 2025 NCAA smallbore individual championship on Friday for her second NCAA smallbore title, triumphing over a field of 44 collegiate rifle competitors at the University of Kentucky’s Memorial Coliseum in Lexington, Kentucky.

This year’s NCAA smallbore rifle individual champion Cecelia Ossi is a graduate student at the University of Alaska-Fairbanks. Formerly a Nebraska rifle team shooter, she is a four-time All-American.

Competing in the first relay on Friday morning, Ossi exited regulation with a score of 593-39X, the second highest score posted by a competitor after both relays were finished. Her best series in regulation was the second kneeling portion, posting a 100 score.

Going into the smallbore final on Friday afternoon, Ossi faced seven other shooters, including fellow Alaska-Fairbanks rifle team competitor Rachael Charles, Katie Zaun (Texas Christian University), along with Braden Peiser, Sofia Ceccarello and Elizabeth Probst of host school Kentucky, and West Virginia University rifle team shooters Griffin Lake and Natalie Perrin.

Collegiate rifle shooters on the firing line during final at the 2025 NCAA rifle championship.

After five competitors were eliminated in the smallbore final, it was down to Ossi, Charles and Zaun. The three shooters wrapped up the final in standing position, like all NCAA smallbore rifle finals. Zaun was the first from the trio to exit the final after firing a 9.8, to Charles with 10.6 and Ossi with 10.7. For the final shot, Ossi shot a 10.7 to Charles with a 9.7, ranking the former in second place and giving Ossi her second NCAA smallbore individual championship.

2025 NCAA SMALLBORE RIFLE INDIVIDUAL CHAMPIONSHIP LEADERBOARD

1. Cecelia Ossi (Alaska-Fairbanks), 464.7
2. Rachael Charles (Alaska-Fairbanks), 463.6
3. Katie Zaun (TCU), 453.6
4. Braden Peiser (Kentucky), 442.0
5. Sofia Ceccarello (Kentucky) 431.5
6. Griffin Lake (WVU), 420.3
7. Elizabeth Probst (Kentucky), 408.8
8. Natalie Perrin (WVU), 407.2

The top three shooters after the smallbore final (starting from left): runner-up Rachael Charles and champion Cecelia Ossi, both from the University of Alaska-Fairbanks, and third place Katie Zaun of Texas Christian University.

At the 2023 NCAA rifle championships held at the University of Akron, Ossi, then a shooter with the Nebraska Cornhuskers rifle team, picked up her first NCAA smallbore rifle individual victory.

Today was a big day for the Alaska-Fairbanks rifle team at the 2025 NCAA rifle championship. Not only did they have two shooters in the smallbore final that ranked first and second, the Nanooks claimed the smallbore team title with a score of 2355-147X.

Alaska-Fairbanks will enter tomorrow’s air rifle competition as the leader in the two-gun team aggregate by a slim one-point margin, followed by the University of Kentucky (2354-135X) and West Virginia University (2350 -45X).

See the 2025 NCAA rifle championship scorecard here.

Tomorrow at the NCAA rifle championship will be the air rifle competition, with the first of two relays kicking off at 9:15 a.m. ET. You can view the live targets at the Megalink website.

Additional coverage of the 2025 NCAA rifle championship is forthcoming both here on the website and in the digital magazine. You can subscribe for free at this link.