The 2022 NCAA Rifle Championships was a tournament held to determine the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) rifle shooting champions for the 2021–22 season. The 42nd annual edition of the championship was held on March 11 and 12, 2022, at the Clune Arena on the campus of United States Air Force Academy in Air Force Academy, Colorado, United States.
Kentucky repeated as national champions, winning its 4th tournament with a 4739-point aggregate score. TCU finished second with 4736 points, marking the university's fourth runner-up finish in the NCAA championships. Alaska Fairbanks finished third with 4733 points, marking their best finish since 2015 when they finished in second place.
Mary Tucker of Kentucky was named the Most Outstanding Performer after finishing first in individual aggregate scoring, with 1,191 points. Will Shaner of Kentucky won the individual smallbore competition with a score of 459.7 points in the finals, while Scott Rockett of Air Force won the individual air rifle competition with a finals score of 250.2 points.
Bid selection Teams were selected by averaging their three highest regular-season match aggregate scores and adding that value to their aggregate score at their designated NCAA qualifier event. The top eight teams would be selected to compete in the national championship. The NCAA hosted its selection show for rifle on February 22, 2022.
+ Team qualifiers for the 2022 NCAA rifle championship Team Appearance Last appearance Air Force 20th 2021 Alaska Fairbanks 35th 2021 Kentucky 27th 2021 Murray State 34th 2019 Navy 28th 2019 Ole Miss 3rd 2021 TCU 15th 2021 West Virginia 38th 2021
Five shooters each from the eight selected schools competed in the individual smallbore and air rifle events. Eight individuals from non-qualifying schools also qualified for the national championships based on their marks in their NCAA qualifier event. In the smallbore event, Kaylene Castillo of Memphis, Victor Kiss of Ohio State, Cecelia Ossi of Nebraska, and Claudia Sigel of Army qualified. In air rifle, Angeline Henry of Memphis, Derek Keiser of Ohio State, and Mackenzie VanPatten of Jacksonville State qualified. Andre Gross of Akron qualified for both the smallbore and air rifle events.
Results Smallbore
+ Individual smallbore final results Place Athlete Team Qualifying score Final score Will Shaner Kentucky 592 459.7 Mary Tucker Kentucky 593 458.7 Rylan Kissell Alaska Fairbanks 591 448.3 4 Kristen Hemphill TCU 589 437.9 5 Abby Gordon TCU 589 426.4 6 Daniel Enger Alaska Fairbanks 589 415.8 7 Kristen Derting Ole Miss 589 403.4 8 Richard Clark Kentucky 589 399.7
+ Team smallbore results Place Team Aggregate score Centers Kentucky 2360 144 Alaska Fairbanks 2351 121 TCU 2350 131 4 Air Force 2342 124 5 Ole Miss 2337 123 6 Murray State 2326 107 7 West Virginia 2320 116 8 Navy 2303 100
Air rifle
+ Individual air rifle final results Place Athlete Team Qualifying score Final score Scott Rockett Air Force 598 250.2 Mary Tucker Kentucky 598 248.9 Kristen Hemphill TCU 597 226.4 4 Kristen Derting Ole Miss 596 205.3 5 Kellen McAferty Alaska Fairbanks 597 183.9 6 Stephanie Grundsøe TCU 598 162.4 7 Daniel Enger Alaska Fairbanks 597 141.6 8 Natalie Perrin West Virginia 596 120.6
+ Team air rifle results Place Team Aggregate score Centers TCU 2386 203 Alaska Fairbanks 2382 190 West Virginia 2380 200 4 Kentucky 2379 185 5 Navy 2378 190 6 Ole Miss 2376 192 7 Air Force 2370 188 8 Murray State 2361 166
Final Following the air rifle results, Kentucky emerged as the tournament's winner, reprising their finish in the 2021 edition with an aggregate score of 4739. The win marked four tournament wins for the Wildcats, which have all come under head coach Harry Mullins. TCU finished second with a 4736 score, marking the fourth runner-up finish in the Horned Frogs' history. Alaska Fairbanks rounded out the podium in third place, with a score of 4733.
Ole Miss finished in fourth place with a score of 4713 which was one point higher than Air Force who finished with a score of 4712 placing them in fifth place. West Virginia finished in sixth with a score of 4700. Murray State finished in seventh with 4687, and Navy finished eighth with 4681.
+ Team final results Place Team Smallbore aggregate Air rifle aggregate Total aggregate Centers Kentucky 2360 2379 4739 329 TCU 2350 2386 4736 334 Alaska Fairbanks 2351 2382 4733 311 4 Ole Miss 2337 2376 4713 315 5 Air Force 2342 2370 4712 312 6 West Virginia 2320 2380 4700 316 7 Murray State 2326 2361 4687 273 8 Navy 2303 2378 4681 290
In the individual competition, Mary Tucker of Kentucky was named the Most Outstanding Performer of the championship, with an aggregate score of 1191 (593 in smallbore and 598 in air rifle).
+ Individual shooter final results Place Athlete Team Smallbore aggregate Air rifle aggregate Total aggregate Centers Mary Tucker Kentucky 593 598 1191 86 Will Shaner Kentucky 592 595 1187 84 Rylan Kissell Alaska Fairbanks 591 596 1187 82 4 Stephanie Grundsøe TCU 588 598 1186 81 5 Kristen Hemphill TCU 589 597 1186 76 6 Daniel Enger Alaska Fairbanks 589 597 1186 76 7 Kristen Derting Ole Miss 589 596 1185 84 8 Scott Rockett Air Force 587 598 1185 84 9 Richard Clark Kentucky 589 594 1183 75 10 Kellen McAferty Alaska Fairbanks 586 597 1183 73 11 Abby Gordon TCU 589 593 1182 76 12 Lea Horvath Ole Miss 583 596 1179 78 13 Andre Gross Akron 585 594 1179 74 14 Matias Kiuru Murray State 583 596 1179 68 15 Akihito Shimizu West Virginia 583 595 1178 79 16 Stephanie Allan TCU 582 596 1178 72 17 Morgan Kreb Air Force 585 592 1177 78 18 Tal Engler West Virginia 581 596 1177 72 19 Peninah D'Souza Air Force 586 590 1176 74 20 Michael Zanti Navy 582 594 1176 71 21 John Blanton Murray State 583 593 1176 69 22 Jillian Zakrzeski Ole Miss 582 593 1175 77 23 Gavin Barnick Alaska Fairbanks 585 590 1175 69 24 Peter Fiori Air Force 584 590 1174 74 25 Claire O'Neel Ole Miss 583 591 1174 72 26 Nina Schuett TCU 575 598 1173 69 27 Scott Patterson Murray State 579 594 1173 61 28 Verena Zaisberger West Virginia 578 594 1172 68 29 Emmie Sellers Kentucky 579 592 1171 67 30 Marleigh Duncan Navy 574 596 1170 71 31 Molly McGhin West Virginia 575 595 1170 70 32 Natalie Perrin West Virginia 573 596 1169 72 33 Jaden Thompson Kentucky 586 583 1169 69 34 Clarissa Layland Navy 573 596 1169 68 35 Stephanie Milvain Navy 574 592 1166 63 36 Jordan Williams Air Force 574 590 1164 60 37 Martina Gratz Ole Miss 573 591 1164 58 38 Jessica Boyce Alaska Fairbanks 571 590 1161 58 39 Allison Henry Murray State 571 588 1159 58 40 Dana Buesseler Murray State 574 583 1157 56 41 Deonte Hayes Navy 567 582 1149 53 Derek Keiser Ohio State 596 596 45 Angeline Henry Memphis 595 595 47 Mackenzie VanPatten Jacksonville State Kaylene Castillo Memphis 587 587 32 Cecelia Ossi Nebraska Viktor Kiss Ohio State 585 585 35 Claudia Sigel Army 581 581 22
References