FORT WAYNE, Ind. — Just a week after the 2026 NCAA Rifle Championship at Ohio State, the sixth annual American Smallbore Shooting Association (ASSA) Intercollegiate Rifle Club National Championship was contested at The X Count range in Fort Wayne, Indiana, on March 21.
Editor’s note: The National Rifle Association of America supported the match as a key sponsor and is committed to the success and continuance of collegiate shooting sports. The NRA provided a cash contribution to the championship and NRA Director Ted Carter attended the Pistol Match as an ambassador.
NRA also permitted the use of the following trophies as part of the competition:
- Norwegian Trophy - Individual Smallbore Rifle Champion
- Butterman Trophy - Individual Air Rifle Champion
- West Point Leadership Trophy - Team Champions in Standard/Air/Sport Pistol
- Joel Sexton Trophy - Standard Pistol Team Champion
- Melaragno Trophy - Women’s Air Pistol Individual Champion
- MIT Trophy - Sport Pistol Individual Champion
- Art Sievers Trophy - Air Pistol Team Champion
- Curtis Burns Trophy - Sport Pistol Team Champion
The latter two trophies were not present at the Intercollegiate Pistol Championship. Trophy plaques were presented to all winning individuals and teams.
At the ASSA Intercollegiate Nationals, some of the top club-level rifle athletes in the country can compete for their own national titles. These programs are student-led club sports and organizations, most of whom receive no athletic scholarships, NIL money or paid-for, top-of-the line equipment like their NCAA counterparts.
Two of the three collegiate club members of the Mid-Atlantic Rifle Conference made the trek west this year—and returned home with some hardware. The Coast Guard Bears found themselves on the national podium as they earned team bronze in both smallbore and aggregate, while University of Rhode Island’s Sophia Wood mirrored the feat individually.
Four student-athletes represented the Coast Guard Academy at the tournament: Annabelle Schneider, Amanda Irizarry, Michael Perez and Jacob Wymore. The Bears put up a strong 2054 team score, their second highest of the season, to start the weekend in the third place position after smallbore. With a score of 2147 in air rifle, Coast Guard held onto their lead for the aggregate podium where they again finished third with an overall score of 4201. Their last team podium finish at the Intercollegiate Rifle Club National Championship was in 2022, when they finished as runner-up across the board. Individually, Schneider finished on top of the Bears’ roster with scores of 558 in smallbore and 563 in air rifle. Schneider’s smallbore score tied her season best to earn her an eighth-place finish in the event.
The University of Rhode Island rifle program was well-represented at the tournament as Sophia Wood, the 2026 Mid-Atlantic Rifle Conference bronze medalist for smallbore, earned a third-place individual finish in smallbore and aggregate as well. Wood’s score of 569 on smallbore day provided a solid lead as she narrowly missed the air rifle podium by just six points after firing a 577. Her 1146 aggregate landed her in third overall behind Hillsdale College’s Benjamin Roche (1167) and University of North Dakota’s Casia Steinhaus (1164).
Both Wood and teammate Alex Travison also brought home All-Star Team honors for the second consecutive season. Travison earned Second Team recognition in air rifle, his first Air Rifle All-Star Team nomination after being named to the Smallbore Second Team last year. Wood brings home First Team awards in all three categories: Smallbore, Air Rifle and Aggregate. This marks her second consecutive selection to the Smallbore First Team, and her first time being named to the Air Rifle First Team after earning a Second Team honor in 2025.
See the full results of the match here.
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