The 2025-26 NCAA rifle season has been defined by a number that was once considered extraordinary and has now become almost routine: a perfect 600 score. It has happened 13 times this season in air rifle, fired by nine different athletes across seven programs. In the modern 60-shot scoring era, only 32 student-athletes have ever accomplished the feat, and they have done so a combined 49 times. That means more than a quarter of all perfect air rifle scores in NCAA history have been fired in a single season. Something is happening in collegiate rifle, and all of it is heading to Columbus.
Ohio State will host the 2026 NCAA Rifle Championship at Covelli Center on March 13-14, with smallbore three-position on Friday and air rifle on Saturday. Eight teams and eight individual qualifiers will compete across the two days. The qualified teams, in seeding order, are Kentucky, Nebraska, Texas Christian University, West Virginia University, Ole Miss, Alaska-Fairbanks, the Naval Academy and Georgia Southern. Just 37.67 points separate the top seed from the eighth, the kind of compression that suggests this championship will not be decided until the final relay of air rifle Saturday afternoon.
Three of this season’s 13 perfect 600 air rifle scores belong to Navy’s Tyler Wee, who leads the nation with a 598.73 air rifle average. Nebraska’s Emma Rhode and Kentucky’s Elizabeth Probst each fired the perfect score twice. The remaining six came from Griffin Lake of WVU, Gracie Dinh and Audrey Gogniat of Ole Miss, Kameron Wells of UTEP, Frans Rasmusson of Jacksonville State and Isabella Baldwin of Navy.
The concentration of talent at the top of the field is striking. Six of the top eight individual aggregate averages in the country belong to athletes on NCAA championship-qualified teams, one from each of six different programs. When the margins are this thin and the talent this evenly distributed, several teams have credible paths to the title.
No. 1 Kentucky (9500)
Kentucky enters as the top seed with a 9500 combined qualifying score, anchored by a 4762 team aggregate that Head Coach Harry Mullins’s program is calling an NCAA record. The Wildcats are making their 32nd championship appearance and carry four national titles (2011, 2018, 2021 and 2022) along with seven runner-up finishes and 24 top-five finishes. Last season at the national championship, Kentucky finished second to WVU at their own Memorial Coliseum in Lexington, a loss that has clearly fueled the 2026 campaign.
Junior Braden Peiser leads the country in aggregate average at 1193.30, with a 595.30 in smallbore and 598.00 in air rifle, making him the clear individual frontrunner heading into March. Sophomore Elizabeth Probst has been equally dangerous in air rifle, firing two perfect 600 scores this season, including one at the NCAA qualifier match. Elisa Boozer, a freshman and a nine-time Oklahoma state champion, adds further depth with a 593.67 air rifle average. Kentucky’s season air rifle team average of 2385.77 leads all programs.
“This is probably the most competitive regular season we have had as the field is wide open and any of the eight teams can win it,” Mullins said in an article published at ukathletics.com. If the Wildcats shoot to their averages, they will be difficult to beat—but Mullins clearly sees a field capable of beating them.
No. 2 Nebraska (9495.33)
Nebraska is seeded second at 9495.33, and posted a season aggregate average of 4740.57, the highest of any program. This is the Huskers’ 21st championship appearance since becoming a varsity program in 1998 and their first under Head Coach Richard Clark, the 2022 NRA National Smallbore Championship Lones Wigger Iron Man Trophy winner.
Senior Emma Rhode, making her fourth championship appearance, has been the catalyst. She averages 591.23 in smallbore and 597.75 in air rifle for a 1188.98 aggregate, fifth nationally, and has fired two perfect 600s in air rifle this season. Sophomore Maddy Moyer returns for her second championship after qualifying individually in 2025. Nebraska’s smallbore team average of 2357.57 is the best in the country, giving the Huskers a measurable edge in the discipline where scoring margins tend to be wider.
Nebraska has already defeated five of the seven other qualified teams this season: Kentucky, TCU, Ole Miss, Alaska-Fairbanks and Navy. The gap between their season average (first nationally) and their qualifying seed (second) suggests Nebraska operates at a higher floor than anyone in the field, even if Kentucky’s peak scores are slightly higher.
No. 3 TCU (9490.33)
Texas Christian University is seeded third at 9490.33 and making its 20th consecutive championship appearance, a streak that underscores the sustained strength of the program. This season, TCU ranks second nationally in both team aggregate average (4737.93) and smallbore average (2354.60), plus third in air rifle (2383.33). The Horned Frogs are seeking a fifth national title, having won in 2010, 2012, 2019 and most recently in 2024.
Senior Katie Zaun is TCU’s anchor, ranking third nationally in aggregate average at 1189.50 with 592.14 in smallbore and 597.36 in air rifle. She appears eight times in the top 50 individual smallbore scores this season, a testament to the kind of relentless consistency that wins team championships.
The TCU rifle team roster has the depth to compete across both disciplines on both days. Sophomore Rylie Passmore ranks in the top 20 individually at 1182.87 and freshman Alexandra Rosenlew is one of the strongest newcomers in the country at 1181.52. Sophomores Marissa Fedora and Christina Hillinger have served as counters throughout the season, and senior Mikole Hogan brings experience from three prior championship appearances.
No. 4 WVU (9485.67)
Defending national champion West Virginia University is seeded fourth at 9485.67, an unusually low qualifying position for the most decorated program in NCAA rifle history. The Mountaineers own a nation-best 20 national championships and have qualified in each of the last 18 seasons under Head Coach Jon Hammond. Seven of those 20 titles belong to Hammond, including five consecutive from 2013 to 2017. WVU is looking to repeat as NCAA champions after claiming its third straight Great America Rifle Conference regular season title this year.
Junior Griffin Lake ranks second nationally in aggregate average at 1190.07, with a 592.44 in smallbore and 597.63 in air rifle. He fired one of the 13 perfect 600 air rifle scores this season. Sophomore Jennifer Kocher (1183.17), freshman Océanne Muller (1181.60), sophomore Camryn Camp (1181.25) and junior Lauri Syrja (1181.20) give the Mountaineers five shooters averaging above 1181. WVU’s season air rifle average of 2385.50 trails Kentucky by just 0.27 points, but their smallbore average of 2351.58 sits fourth nationally. That gap in smallbore is where Kentucky and Nebraska hold their advantage. Still, no one in this field should want to face a program with 20 titles and a head coach who has won seven of them.
No. 5 Ole Miss (9483)
Ole Miss is seeded fifth at 9483 and making its sixth consecutive championship appearance, seventh overall. The Rebels went 10-2 in the regular season and finished second at the Patriot Rifle Conference Tournament. Audrey Gogniat is the centerpiece. The sophomore from Le Noirmont, Switzerland, is the reigning NCAA air rifle individual champion and the Paris 2024 Olympic bronze medalist in 10-meter air rifle. She averages 598.09 in air rifle (second nationally) and 591.36 in smallbore for a 1189.46 aggregate, fourth in the country. She fired a perfect 600 at the Patriot Rifle Conference Championship while defending her conference title, also becoming the first athlete to fire a perfect score in back-to-back conference championships.
Gracie Dinh, also a sophomore, ranks ninth nationally in aggregate average at 1185.17 and fired a perfect 600 and a 596 in smallbore against Murray State for a 1196 individual aggregate, the second-best mark in program history behind Gogniat’s 1197. The Rebels set program records this season in air rifle (2390 and 2388), smallbore (2368) and tied their best aggregate (4746). Last year Ole Miss finished fourth overall and second in air rifle at the championship, with Gogniat claiming the individual air rifle title as the program’s first national champion. With two top-10 individuals and program records falling regularly, the Rebels are a team to watch.
The Rest of the Field
Alaska-Fairbanks and Navy are tied at 9472 in the sixth and seventh positions. The Nanooks are the second-most decorated program in the field behind WVU, having won nine NCAA national championships between 1994 and 2008. Navy brings Tyler Wee, whose three perfect 600 air rifle scores and nation-leading 598.73 air rifle average make him arguably the hottest individual shooter in the discipline. Georgia Southern University holds the eighth and final qualifying spot at 9462.33.
Eight individual qualifiers round out the 48-athlete field. In smallbore, the qualifiers are Addison Antwiler of Army West Point, Katrina Demerle of Memphis and Carlotta Salafia and Lea Soulé of Murray State. In air rifle, Lily Wytko and Lily Miller of Air Force, Caroline Martin of Murray State and Kameron Wells of UTEP earned their spots. Murray State, which finished ninth in the overall standings at 9455.33, placed three athletes into the individual qualifier pool across both disciplines, a reflection of the depth lurking just outside the team cut.
Smallbore three-position begins with the first relay on Friday, March 13 at 9:00 a.m. ET, with air rifle to follow on Saturday, March 14 at 9:00 a.m. ET. Individual finals will be held at the conclusion of each day’s relays. For complete NCAA Rifle Championship information, visit ncaa.com. For season statistics and historical data, visit ncaarifle.org.
