COLUMBUS, Ohio – Rylan Kissell of the Alaska Nanooks rifle team finished the Smallbore Individual Final in seventh place, firing a total of 402.6. 
 
After he fired off a 587, the morning of the team smallbore discipline, Kissell scored a top-eight finish, moving on to the individual final. He bested Kentucky's Will Shaner with an X's tiebreaker, becoming the Nanooks first individual finalist since J.T. Schnering, who placed fourth place in air rifle at the 2018-19 NCAA Rifle Championships hosted by West Virginia. 
 
Kissell was happy with his performance earlier in the day and in the finals, "I felt pretty good, I went in and did what I had to do I used my raining that we did the past year and thought it was a pretty good success."
 
Will Anti was impressed at how poised Kissell was in his first Championships Individual final, "It was great to have Rylan qualify for the final. He shot a solid match with some exceptional standing and a strong inner ten count. In the final, he honestly shot extremely well, especially in kneeling. He doesn't have a ton of finals experience so this is really a huge stage to have a finals debut on. He was very professional and calm through the final. He learned a lot that will help him in future finals. Finishing in the top seven in this field of elite shooters is a testament to the work he and the entire team have put in this season."
 
The Nanooks are back at the Converse Hall tomorrow morning, Saturday, March 13 for the team air rifle match. Individual updates will be provided on social media. 
 
All live links for the NCAA Rifle Championships are available on NCAA.com.
 
For more information on the Alaska Nanooks rifle team, follow @NanooksRifle on Twitter, or like the Alaska Nanooks Rifle team page on Facebook.