The 2023 NCAA Rifle Championships was a tournament held to determine the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) rifle shooting champions for the 2022–23 season. The 43rd annual edition of the championship was held on March 10 and 11, 2023, at the James A. Rhodes Arena on the campus of the University of Akron in Akron, Ohio, United States.

Alaska Fairbanks won the national championship, ending a 15-year national championship drought, and winning its 11th tournament with a 4729-point aggregate score. TCU finished second with 4717 points, marking the university's fifth runner-up finish in the NCAA championships. Kentucky finished third with 4713 points, they fell to third place after winning the previous two national championships in 2021 and 2022.

Rylan Kissell of Alaska Fairbanks was named the Most Outstanding Performer after finishing first in individual aggregate scoring, with 1,190 points. Cecelia Ossi of Nebraska won the individual smallbore competition with a score of 409.5 points in the finals, while Rylan Kissell of Alaska Fairbanks won the individual air rifle competition with a finals score of 260.9 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 20, 2023.

+ Team qualifiers for the 2023 NCAA rifle championship Team Appearance Last appearance Air Force 21st 2022 Alaska Fairbanks 36th 2022 Kentucky 28th 2022 Murray State 35th 2022 Nebraska 16th 2021 Ole Miss 4th 2022 TCU 16th 2022 West Virginia 39th 2022

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, Clark McWhorter of Jacksonville State qualified. In air rifle, Addy Burrow of Georgia Southern, Angeline Henry of Memphis, Elysa Walter of North Georgia, and Gabriela Zych of Memphis qualified. Marleigh Duncan of Navy, Parker Haydin of Navy, and Ben Salas of NC State qualified for both the smallbore and air rifle events.

Results Smallbore

+ Individual smallbore final results Place Athlete Team Qualifying score Final score Cecelia Ossi Nebraska 590 409.5 (16)* Will Shaner Kentucky 591 411.9 (8)* Mary Tucker West Virginia 592 409.3 4 Gavin Barnick Alaska Fairbanks 589 356.6 5 Rylan Kissell Alaska Fairbanks 590 356.3 6 Lea Horvath Ole Miss 589 303.4 7 Emma Pereira Ole Miss 589 302.3 8 Malori Brown West Virginia 588 252.1 *Score from gold medal match

+ Team smallbore results Place Team Aggregate score Centers Alaska Fairbanks 2349 151 Ole Miss 2346 134 West Virginia 2343 148 4 Nebraska 2340 141 5 Kentucky 2340 139 6 TCU 2338 137 7 Air Force 2322 122 8 Murray State 2322 116

Air rifle

+ Individual air rifle final results Place Athlete Team Qualifying score Final score Rylan Kissell Alaska Fairbanks 600 260.9 (17)* Mary Tucker West Virginia 598 261.3 (9)* Rachael Charles Alaska Fairbanks 598 259.8 4 Angeline Henry Memphis 596 205.3 5 Elysa Walter North Georgia 596 205.5 6 Peninah D'Souza Air Force 596 204.9 7 Katie Zaun TCU 597 153.2 8 Julie Johannessen TCU 599 152.2 *Score from gold medal match

+ Team air rifle results Place Team Aggregate score Centers Alaska Fairbanks 2380 192 TCU 2379 193 Air Force 2375 179 4 Kentucky 2373 185 5 Ole Miss 2367 178 6 Nebraska 2366 180 7 Murray State 2366 167 8 West Virginia 2365 177

Final Following the air rifle results, Alaska Fairbanks emerged as the tournament's winner, securing their first championship since 2008 with an aggregate score of 4729. The win marked 11 tournament wins for the Nanooks, with this being their first title under head coach Will Anti. TCU finished second with a 4717 score, marking the fifth runner-up finish in the Horned Frogs' history. Kentucky rounded out the podium in third place, with a score of 4713.

Kentucky and Ole Miss finished tied at 4713; the Wildcats won third place due to their higher number of center shots, leaving the Rebels in fourth. West Virginia finished in fifth with a score of 4708. Nebraska finished in sixth with 4706, and Air Force finished seventh with 4697. Finally, Murray State finished in eighth place with a score of 4688.

+ Team final results Place Team Smallbore aggregate Air rifle aggregate Total aggregate Centers Alaska Fairbanks 2349 2380 4729 343 TCU 2338 2379 4717 330 Kentucky 2340 2373 4713 324 4 Ole Miss 2346 2367 4713 312 5 West Virginia 2343 2365 4708 325 6 Nebraska 2340 2366 4706 321 7 Air Force 2322 2375 4697 301 8 Murray State 2322 2366 4688 283

In the individual competition, Rylan Kissell of Alaska Fairbanks was named the Most Outstanding Performer of the championship, with an aggregate score of 1190 (590 in smallbore and 600 in air rifle). During air rifle qualifications, he shot a perfect score with 58 center-tens to establish a new NCAA Championship record.

+ Individual shooter final results Place Athlete Team Smallbore aggregate Air rifle aggregate Total aggregate Centers Rylan Kissell Alaska Fairbanks 590 600 1190 101 Mary Tucker West Virginia 592 598 1190 94 Julie Johannessen TCU 586 599 1185 84 4 Cecelia Ossi Nebraska 590 593 1183 93 5 Mitchell Nelson Kentucky 587 595 1182 91 6 Will Shaner Kentucky 589 593 1182 83 7 Kristen Derting Ole Miss 588 594 1182 78 8 Katie Zaun TCU 584 597 1181 88 9 Rachael Charles Alaska Fairbanks 583 598 1181 84 10 Stephanie Grundsøe TCU 585 595 1180 82 11 Scott Rockett Air Force 586 593 1179 79 12 Emma Pereira Ole Miss 588 591 1179 77 13 Gavin Barnick Alaska Fairbanks 588 590 1178 82 14 Richard Clark Kentucky 582 596 1178 81 15 Tori Watts Nebraska 584 594 1178 79 16 Matias Kiuru Murray State 585 593 1178 75 17 Martina Gratz Ole Miss 582 595 1177 77 18 Marleigh Duncan Navy 582 594 1176 78 19 Lea Horvath Ole Miss 588 587 1175 80 20 Malori Brown West Virginia 589 586 1175 79 Madelynn Erickson Nebraska 585 590 22 Peter Fiori Alaska Fairbanks 588 587 1175 77 23 Peninah D'Souza Air Force 578 596 1174 79 24 Parker Haydin Navy 584 590 1174 73 25 Kellen Mcaferty Alaska Fairbanks 582 592 1174 72 26 Lauren Hurley Air Force 579 594 1173 69 27 John Blanton Murray State 581 591 1172 69 28 Kristen Hemphill TCU 583 588 1171 76 Molly McGhin West Virginia 30 Jordan Williams Air Force 579 592 1171 72 31 Ben Salas NC State 585 586 1171 70 32 Morgan Kreb Air Force 578 592 1170 71 33 Emma Rhode Nebraska 581 589 1170 70 34 Scott Patterson Murray State 577 593 1170 69 35 Matt Sanchez West Virginia 578 591 1169 68 36 Allison Henry Murray State 579 589 1168 70 37 Tal Engler West Virginia 579 588 1167 76 38 Martin Voss Kentucky 582 583 1165 65 39 Allison Buesseler Kentucky 574 589 1163 64 40 Paola Paravati Murray State 574 588 1162 60 41 Mackenzie Strauch Nebraska 576 583 1159 64 42 M'Leah Lambdin Ole Miss 567 582 1149 56 Elysa Walter North Georgia 596 596 53 Angeline Henry Memphis 596 596 48 Gabriela Zych Memphis 595 595 50 Addy Burrow Georgia Southern 591 591 46 Abby Gordon TCU 583 583 34 Clark McWhorter Jacksonville State 569 569 27

References