The NCAA Rifle Championship is an annual co-educational

rifle A rifle is a long-barreled firearm designed for accurate shooting, with a barrel that has a helical pattern of grooves ( rifling) cut into the bore wall. In keeping with their focus on accuracy, rifles are typically designed to be held with ...

national collegiate championship sponsored by the

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges ...

(NCAA). The tournament includes an individual and team championships consisting of the two-day aggregate scoring of the smallbore competition and

air rifle An air gun or airgun is a gun that fires projectiles pneumatically with compressed air or other gases that are mechanically pressurized ''without'' involving any chemical reactions, in contrast to a firearm, which pressurizes gases ''chemical ...

competition. The national championship rounds are contested annually in mid-March. West Virginia (19) and Alaska (10) have combined to win 29 of the 42 team championships. Unlike many NCAA sports, only one

National Collegiate The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges a ...

championship is held each season with teams from Division I, Division II, and Division III competing together. Under NCAA rules, sports teams that include both men and women are designated as men's teams for purposes of sports sponsorship and scholarship limitations. Nonetheless, rifle has been a coed sport since 1980, a year before the NCAA began holding championships in women's sports. Schools sponsoring rifle may field anywhere from one to three teams. If a school chooses to sponsor more than one team, it may have any combination of men's, women's, and coed teams. Two schools field men's and women's teams, and three field women's and coed teams. The current team national champions are the

Kentucky Wildcats The Kentucky Wildcats are the men's and women's intercollegiate athletic squads of the University of Kentucky (UK), a founding member of the Southeastern Conference. The Kentucky Wildcats is the student body of the University of Kentucky. 30,47 ...

, who won their fourth national championship at Clune Arena, located within the Cadet Field House on the grounds of the

United States Air Force Academy The United States Air Force Academy (USAFA) is a United States service academy in El Paso County, Colorado, immediately north of Colorado Springs. It educates cadets for service in the officer corps of the United States Air Force and U ...

near

Colorado Springs, Colorado Colorado Springs is a home rule municipality in, and the county seat of, El Paso County, Colorado, United States. It is the largest city in El Paso County, with a population of 478,961 at the 2020 United States Census, a 15.02% increase since ...

, on March 11 and 12, 2022. Kentucky's Will Shaner won the 2022 individual title in small-bore. Air Force freshman Scott Rockett won the air rifle national championship, the first ever for the Academy.

Programs

Conferences

Great America Rifle Conference The Great America Rifle Conference (GARC) is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) rifle-only conference. The GARC was established for schools that sponsor rifle teams, but do not have rifle sponsored in their respective conferences ...

Mid-Atlantic Rifle Conference The Mid-Atlantic Rifle Conference (MAC) is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) rifle-only conference. The MAC was established in 1978 for schools that sponsor NCAA sanctioned varsity rifle teams, but do not have rifle as a sponsored ...

Ohio Valley Conference The Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) is a collegiate athletic conference which operates in the Midwestern and Southeastern United States. It participates in Division I of the NCAA; the conference's football programs compete in the Football Cham ...

, the only Division I all-sports conference that sponsored rifle before the SoCon added it in 2016–17. *

Patriot Rifle Conference The Patriot Rifle Conference (PRC) is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) rifle-only conference. The PRC was established in 2013 for schools that sponsor rifle teams, but do not have rifle as a sponsored sport in their primary conf ...

Southern Conference The Southern Conference (SoCon) is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I. Southern Conference football teams compete in the Football Championship Subdivision (formerly k ...

; resumed the sport in 2016–17 after a 30-year hiatus.

Champions

*Prior to NCAA sponsorship in 1980, a collegiate rifle championship was held yearly by the

National Rifle Association The National Rifle Association of America (NRA) is a gun rights advocacy group based in the United States. Founded in 1871 to advance rifle marksmanship, the modern NRA has become a prominent gun rights lobbying organization while cont ...

. *From 1980 to 2004, the championship consisted of 120 shots by each competitor in smallbore, and 40 shots per competitor in air rifle. Since 2005, the championship has consisted of 60 shots for both smallbore and air rifle, equaling a total of 120 shots per team member.http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/rifle_champs_records/2012-13/2012-13_rifle_rec.pdf

Programs

Conferences

Champions

Team titles

Appearances by Team

Individual titles

See also

Footnotes

External links