For the first time in eight years and 20th time in program history, West Virginia’s rifle team is above the rest.
The Mountaineers captured the National Championship on Saturday, the second day of competition at Memorial Coliseum in Lexington, Kentucky.
WVU entered Saturday in third place and 10 points back of Kentucky ahead of the final air rifle relay.
Behind a score of 598 from Natalie Perrin and a 597 from Ashlyn Blake, the Mountaineers pulled out a one-point win over the Wildcats.
Perrin hit the final shot of the match, a 10.1, to push WVU to a 4738-aggregate score. The mark bested Kentucky’s runner-up mark of 4737.
Alaska Fairbanks came into the day in first and finished with a score of 4726 to take third.
Both Perrin and Blake qualified for the air rifle final, marking Perrin’s second straight day in a final after making the smallbore final a day prior. Blake scored 228.9 to claim third place while Perrin finished in fifth place with a 185.7.
Perrin finished in third place overall with an 1190 aggregate score. The mark was just one point off first place and tied for the second-best in the field. The match marked the final of her Mountaineer career, where she produced career-highs in aggregate score and smallbore.
Griffin Lake qualified for the smallbore finals in the championship yesterday to finish the championship with an 1188 total score. The mark was the fourth best in the field as his 94 centers across 120 shots was the second most.
In the first of two air rifle relays, senior Gavin Barnick and sophomores Lake and Lauri Syrja opened the competition for the Mountaineers. Lake led the relay for West Virginia, shooting a 597. Syrja finished just behind with his 596, while Barnick rounded out the morning session with a 592.
With the result, WVU has finished inside the top two 30 times at 45 NCAA National Championships.
The Mountaineers won five straight titles from 2013-17, and head coach Jon Hammond now has seven National Championships in 19 seasons on his resume.
West Virginia completed the 2024-25 season with a 13-0 mark in the regular season and a 5-0 overall in the Great American Rifle Conference (GARC) competition. It marks the second straight season WVU has finished the regular season with a perfect record. The 2025 NCAA Rifle National Champions also claimed the program’s 17th GARC Conference Championship and 16th GARC Regular Season title this season.
Final Team Standings
- West Virginia – 4738
- Kentucky – 4737
- Alaska Fairbanks – 4726
- Ole Miss – 4716
- Georgia Southern – 4713
- TCU – 4712
- Air Force – 4703
- Murray State – 4693
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Ceili McCabe became the first WVU track and field athlete to win the 3,000 meters at a NCAA Championship, with the graduate student accomplishing the feat Saturday at the Virginia Beach Sports Center in Virginia Beach, Virginia.
McCabe finished in 9:01.18 to break the facilities record. That time also gives McCabe first-team All-America honors for her 10th All-America accolade across cross country, indoor and outdoor track & field careers.
That feeling when you realize you’re a national champion 🥹🏆#HailWV pic.twitter.com/XWQ3VzDFyl
— WVU Cross Country/Track & Field (@WVUXCTF) March 15, 2025
McCabe also became only the second WVU athlete to win an indoor title, joining alumna Kate Vermeulen who took home the mile win in 1999.
“We have had a lot of special athletes come through this program,” WVU head coach Sean Cleary said. “Each and every one of them has played a role in what we were able to experience today. For those who have never met Ceili, that is unfortunate as she is someone who everybody should want to represent this program, university and state. To watch her join some of the past greats of this program is a moment that I will never forget.”