COLUMBUS, Ohio - The Nanooks are in! The Alaska rifle team will head to its 39th NCAA Rifle Championships this March after earning a team qualification in Monday's NCAA Selection Show.
Alaska is one of eight teams participating in the 2026 NCAA NC Rifle Championships, March 13-14, at Ohio State University. The championship will be held at the Covelli Center on the OSU campus in Columbus, Ohio. The top eight teams in both the smallbore three-position and air rifle events were selected based on the average of the three highest regular-season aggregate scores, with no more than one match at any given site. The average of the three scores was added to the aggregate scores from the designated qualifiers to determine the top eight teams.
Team Qualifiers (Alphabetic Order)
- Alaska
- Georgia Southern
- Kentucky
- Navy
- Nebraska
- Ole Miss
- TCU
- West Virginia
The Nanooks have made the second-most NCAA Rifle National Championship appearances with their 39. West Virginia leads with 42 appearances. Murray State (36), Kentucky (31), and Navy (30) are the only other teams with 30+ appearances. The Nanooks first made an NCAA appearance in 1980, then had 32 consecutive appearances from 1988 to 2019. Alaska has claimed 11 national titles and looks for its 12th this March.
Individual and team competitions in smallbore three-position (60 shots) will be held on Friday, March 13, and individual and team competitions in air rifle (60 shots) will be held on Saturday, March 14. The overall team champion will be determined by combining the smallbore and air rifle team total scores into one aggregate for each institution.
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