WVU Wins NCAA Rifle Championship For Record 20th Time

The West Virginia University rifle team clinched its 20th NCAA title at the 2025 NCAA rifle championship, held at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, Kentucky, on Saturday, March 15.

Walking away from the match with a team aggregate score of 4738-355X, the WVU Mountaineers finished only one point ahead of host school Kentucky, the latter having to settle for runner-up with 4737-333X.

Two WVU competitors finished in the top five in the individual standings, Natalie Perrin with 1190-90X and Griffin Lake with 1188-94X.

WVU rallied after entering the air rifle competition on Saturday in third place with a 10-point deficit after the smallbore phase, behind the University of Alaska-Fairbanks and Kentucky. The Mountaineers closed the gap in air rifle, buoyed by excellent shooting from senior Natalie Perrin with a score of 598-53X and freshman Ashlyn Blake with 597-52X.

Taking third place in the team two-gun aggregate was the University of Alaska-Fairbanks, who collectively posted a score of 4726-338X.

The top three teams on the podium at the 2025 NCAA rifle championships (from left): runner-up Kentucky, winner West Virginia University and third place Alaska-Fairbanks.

Coached by Jon Hammond, the WVU Mountaineers’ two best performances over the course of the competition came from senior Natalie Perrin, who posted a 598-53X score in air rifle and 592-37X in smallbore, along with sophomore Griffin Lake with 597-51X in air rifle and 591-43X in smallbore. As for Hammond, who has been the WVU rifle’s coach for 19 years, the victory at the 2025 NCAA rifle championship on Saturday was the seventh for the Mountaineers under his tenure.

This year’s victory also ends a drought for WVU rifle, whose last NCAA championship title was back in 2017, which concluded a five-year streak of wins at the competition.

In addition to winning the two-gun team championship, the WVU Mountaineers also won the air rifle title with a score of 2388-210X, also finishing in third place in smallbore with 2350-145X.

2025 NCAA RIFLE CHAMPIONSHIP TEAM LEADERBOARD

1. WVU, 4738-355X
2. Kentucky, 4737-333X
3. Alaska-Fairbanks, 4726-338X
4. Ole Miss, 4716-331X
5. Georgia Southern, 4713-302X
6. TCU, 4712-309X
7. Air Force, 4703-315X
8. Murray State, 4693-298X

You can see the full results of the 2025 NCAA rifle championships at the NCAA rifle website.

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