Ranked No. 15 and facing the ever-powerful No. 2 Kentucky Wildcats, the Akron Zips had no illusions about how difficult it would be to come away with a win. But in this sport, success is about more than winning a head-to-head battle. NCAA Championship selection is based on each team’s three highest scores fired at three different locations, so every point matters.
The Zips knuckled down and started pounding the center. At the end of smallbore, Akron trailed Kentucky by only 10 points. To put that in perspective, a single shot is worth up to 10 points, so a 10-point gap in the team score is razor-thin. Akron definitely had the Wildcats’ attention. In air rifle, Kentucky widened the gap by another 15 points to give the Wildcats a 4718-4693 victory. Despite the loss, Akron posted its highest team score of the season.
In smallbore, four shooters tied for top gun, each firing an outstanding 586. To break ties, we count perfectly centered shots. That put Kentucky in the top three positions, with Akron senior Logan McClimans claiming fourth. Just one point behind Logan was sophomore hotshot Kathleen Moran with a 585. Rounding out Akron’s top four were senior Diane Heschel (582) and sophomore Matthew Kimball (581). The team has been putting in a lot of training time on the smallbore range, and it appears that investment is paying off.
As one of the top air rifle teams in the nation, Kentucky claimed the top two positions with a pair of 597s. Right there in the mix, however, was Akron’s future: freshman Maddie Allen fired a remarkable 594 out of a possible 600. Maddie has been doing an amazing job, and I have a feeling this is just the beginning for her. Also helping lead the way for Akron’s future was sophomore Kathleen Moran, who added another impressive 592. The Zips finished air rifle with a team score of 2362 out of a possible 2400, a season high.
Kentucky junior Sam Adkins posted the top individual aggregate at the match with 1183-87X, followed by senior teammate Braden Peiser with 1183-85X. Moran led the Zips in the aggregate, finishing third overall with 1177-79X.
Akron vs. Kentucky | Oct. 17, 2026
| Rank | Team | Smallbore | Air Rifle | Aggregate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kentucky | 2341 | 2377 | 4718-332X |
| 2 | Akron | 2331 | 2362 | 4693-289X |
| Results courtesy of NCAARifle.org | ||||
See the full match results at ncaarifle.org.
There will be no cooling off for Team Akron as the squad heads north for its next challenge at the University of Alaska-Fairbanks on November 7-8. It has been a couple of years since we last made the trip north to face the Nanooks, but the Zips are up to the challenge. The competition will be livestreamed, with targets available at live.megalink.no.
