Ole Miss Rifle’s Audrey Gogniat Wins NCAA Air Rifle Individual Title

Audrey Gogniat of the Ole Miss rifle team won the 2025 NCAA air rifle individual championship on Saturday after walking away from the final at the University of Kentucky’s Memorial Coliseum with a score of 251. The competition was held March 14-15 in Lexington, Kentucky.

Ole Miss rifle team shooter Audrey Gogniat fired a 600-58X score in air rifle and was the top seed in the final. It was Gogniat and Kentucky’s Braden Peiser facing each other in the final round after six shooters were eliminated, ending in a shoot-off that Gogniat won after firing a 10.6.

Gogniat, a freshman from Le Noirmont, Switzerland, entered the final with a score of 600-58X in air rifle regulation, only two Xs away from being a completely perfect score, which would have been unprecedented in the history of the NCAA rifle championship. She was the top shooter in air rifle regulation.

In the final, Gogniat faced seven of the best collegiate air rifle shooters in the country, including Braden Peiser (Kentucky), Ashlyn Blake and Natalie Perrin (West Virginia University), Carlotta Salafia (Murray State), Katie Zaun (Texas Christian University), Victoria Leppert and Lauren Hurley (Air Force).

Air rifle shooters on the firing line during the second relay at the 2025 NCAA rifle championship in Lexington, Ky., on March 15.

Gogniat did not relinquish the top spot during the final, until six other shooters had been eliminated and it was down to her and Kentucky’s Braden Peiser. For the 23rd shot, Gogniat fired a 10.2 to Peiser’s 10.9, giving the Kentucky shooter an opportunity to close the gap, as the score was now 240.5-240.3. Next, for shot 24, Gogniat again could not match Peiser, with the latter shooting a 10.7 compared to Gogniat’s 10.5. The result—a tie at 251. For the final tiebreaker shot to win the 2025 NCAA air rifle title, Gogniat fired a 10.6, while Peiser fired a 9.8 and had to settle for runner-up.

Last summer, Gogniat was the 10 meter air rifle bronze medalist at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, earning the medal while competing for her native Swiss team.

2025 NCAA AIR RIFLE INDIVIDUAL CHAMPIONSHIP LEADERBOARD

1. Audrey Gogniat (Ole Miss), 251.0, 10.6 shoot-off
2. Braden Peiser (Kentucky), 251.0, 9.8 shoot-off
3. Ashlyn Blake (WVU), 228.9
4. Carlotta Salafia (Murray State), 207.2
5. Natalie Perrin (WVU), 185.7
6. Katie Zaun (TCU), 164.9
7. Victoria Leppert (Air Force), 143.8
8. Lauren Hurley (Air Force), 120.9

The top three air rifle shooters on the podium (from left): runner-up Braden Peiser (Kentucky), winner Audrey Gogniat (Ole Miss) and third place Ashlyn Blake (WVU).

In addition to Gogniat’s air rifle individual title, Ole Miss was the runner-up in this year’s NCAA air rifle team championship. The Rebels posted a score of 2383-207X, five points behind the winning team West Virginia University.

Not only that, but Gogniat was the seventh-ranked shooter on the individual two-gun aggregate leaderboard with a score of 1197-93X.

You can see the 2025 NCAA rifle championship scorecard at the NCAA rifle website.

Stay tuned for more coverage from the 2025 NCAA rifle championship, both here on the Shooting Sports USA website and in a future issue of the digital magazine.