Collegiate Rifle: Kentucky Sails Past Navy, WVU Defeats Mount Aloysius, TCU Triumphs Over UTEP

The top-ranked Kentucky, WVU and TCU rifle teams all picked up wins during their respective matches held on Oct. 26, 2024.

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posted on October 28, 2024
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Barnick NCAA Airrifle 3
Gavin Barnick of the West Virginia University rifle team competing in the air rifle final at the 2024 NCAA rifle championship this past March. During the WVU-Mount Aloysius College match in Morgantown, W.V., on Saturday, Oct. 26, Barnick led the Mountaineers to victory as the high individual aggregate scorer with 1188-89X.
Photo by John Parker

The 2024-2025 NCAA collegiate rifle season is in full swing, and three schools—Kentucky, West Virginia University and Texas Christian University—all landed big wins over the weekend.

At its home range, Kentucky defeated Navy on Saturday, October 26. The final score was 4727-315X to 4692-298X. Kentucky rifle team shooters were led by Sofia Ceccarello, who posted an individual aggregate score of 1189-93X, followed by Braden Peiser with 1185-76X. In air rifle, Navy’s Isabella Baldwin was the top individual shooter with a score of 598-49X.

“Happy with the performance today overall. [There were] some really good individual performances from some veterans and some newcomers, which was good to see,” Kentucky Head Coach Harry Mullins said to ukathletics.com. “Next week will be another big test, but [I’m] looking forward to getting on the road and seeing what we can do.”

Kentucky will next face Ole Miss on the road in Mississippi on November 2. As for Navy, the rifle team will travel to Colorado Springs, Colorado, for a three-way match against Air Force and Army on November 2.

West Virginia University secured victory during a home match against the upstart Mount Aloysius College rifle team on Saturday, October 26. The WVU rifle team posted an aggregate score of 4744-350X, 214 points ahead of Mount Aloysius with 4530-178X. Topping the individual aggregate leaderboard was West Virginia University rifle team shooter Gavin Barnick with 1188-89X, followed by Ashlyn Blake with 1185-90X and Lauri Syrja with 1185-84X. As for Mount Aloysius College, the top shooter was Elissa Barron with 1142-50X, ranking her seventh on the individual aggregate leaderboard.

WVU rifle’s win against Mount Aloysius College marked its fifth consecutive victory this season.

Next up for the West Virginia University rifle team will be a three-way competition against Army and John Jay at West Point on November 9. In addition, Mount Aloysius will travel to Kentucky to face Morehead State on November 9-10.

Defending NCAA rifle champion Texas Christian University outdueled the University of Texas at El Paso rifle team, 4717-319X to 4672-269X, at the match hosted in El Paso, Texas, on Saturday, October 26. The TCU Horned Frogs were buoyed by a solid performance from Katie Zaun, who claimed the number one spot on the individual aggregate leaderboard with a score of 1187-88X. Behind Zaun in the number two spot were fellow TCU rifle team shooters Mikole Hogan with 1182-78X and Christina Hillinger with 1175-76X. The highest ranked shooter for UTEP was Kameron Wells, who walked away from the competition with a score of 1171-63X, good for the number four spot on the individual aggregate leaderboard.

Texas Christian University will next square off against Nebraska and Schreiner University at home on November 2. As for the University of Texas at El Paso, the rifle team will head to Columbus, Ohio, for a three-way match against Ohio State and Murray State on November 2.

You can see the full scorecards for all three matches at the NCAA rifle website.

Learn more about these collegiate rifle programs at the following websites:

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