COLUMBUS, Ohio — For Audrey Gogniat of the Ole Miss rifle team, defending a national championship was never going to be simple.
A sophomore, Gogniat repeated as the individual air rifle winner at the 2026 NCAA Rifle Championship on Saturday, March 14, surging late in a final that came down to the last shot at Ohio State’s Covelli Center.
Gogniat began the day by leading the field after both air rifle relays with a score of 600-54X—the fourth time she’s posted a perfect air rifle score in her career. With the performance, she became just the second woman and the third person ever to post four perfect scores in NCAA air rifle competition. Even more impressive: she’s now done it in back-to-back seasons at both the Patriot Rifle Conference Championship and the NCAA Championship.
She followed that up by defending her title in dramatic fashion, rallying late to edge Nebraska freshman Katlyn Sullivan in the final. Gogniat trailed by as many as two points before capitalizing on a costly miss by Sullivan to surge ahead and claim the crown. Earlier in the final, she also survived a tight battle with WVU junior Griffin Lake, ultimately pulling ahead on her 22nd shot to remain in the hunt for the air rifle title.
Last year in Lexington, Gogniat won the NCAA individual title in a tiebreaker against Kentucky’s Braden Peiser after entering the air rifle final with a 600-58X—two Xs short of a completely perfect score. This year’s path was different but the destination was the same: another championship trophy for Gogniat, the Paris 2024 Olympic bronze medalist in women’s 10-meter air rifle from Le Noirmont, Switzerland.
In Friday’s smallbore final, Gogniat finished as runner-up to Braden Peiser of the Kentucky Wildcats. She was also ranked second on the individual aggregate leaderboard with 1192-95X, two points behind top-ranked student-athlete Griffin Lake of WVU.
2026 NCAA AIR RIFLE INDIVIDUAL CHAMPIONSHIP LEADERBOARD
| Rank | Name | Team | Qual. Score | Final |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Audrey Gogniat | Ole Miss | 600-54X | 251.0 |
| 2 | Katlyn Sullivan | Nebraska | 599-55X | 249.9 |
| 3 | Griffin Lake | WVU | 599-57X | 229.2 |
| 4 | Océanne Muller | WVU | 599-55X | 208.2 |
| 5 | Mikole Hogan | TCU | 598-53X | 187.3 |
| 6 | Katie Zaun | TCU | 598-55X | 166.2 |
| 7 | Jennifer Kocher | WVU | 599-54X | 144.1 |
| 8 | Tori Watts | Georgia Southern | 598-53X | 122.7 |
OLE MISS RIFLE ON THE RISE
In its first season under Head Coach Will Shaner, the Ole Miss rifle team proved it belongs among the nation’s best with a No. 5 ranking going into this year’s tournament.
The Rebels finished third in the 2026 NCAA Rifle Championship team aggregate with 4738-339X, only three points behind runner-up TCU—tying the best finish in program history at the NCAA Championship, last achieved in the 2020-21 season.
Ole Miss also picked up its first-ever NCAA smallbore team title on Friday, posting a 2356-142X to finish two points ahead of runner-up TCU. Gracie Dinh led the Rebels in smallbore with 593-37X, with Gogniat contributing 592-41X. All four Ole Miss rifle team counting scores from Dinh, Gogniat, Regan Diamond and Jordan de Jesus came in at 583 or higher.
Beyond the postseason success, the Rebels closed the 2025-26 campaign in record-breaking fashion, posting a program-best 4731.1 aggregate average. They never dipped below the 4700 mark all season—the kind of consistency that signals a program on the rise, not just a team riding a hot weekend.
Visit ncaarifle.org to view the full results of the 2026 NCAA Rifle Championship.
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