Peiser Wins Smallbore National Championship, Wildcats in 5th After Day One
LEXINGTON, Ky. – University of Kentucky junior Braden Peiser continued his dominance by winning the NCAA Smallbore Individual National Championship on Friday while the UK team sits in 5th place overall after the first day of the 2026 NCAA Division I Rifle National Championships. The event is being hosted by Ohio State University inside the Covelli Center.
Competition will continue Saturday with air rifle. The first air rifle relay will begin at 9:15 a.m. ET with the second relay getting underway at 11:15 a.m. ET. An eight-person individual final will be held at the conclusion of the day. Live targets and a NCAA Scorecard will be available online at UKathletics.com. NCAA.com will a live stream of the action.
Peiser and sophomore Liz Probst both made the individual smallbore final. Peiser was fantastic in the final, leading a majority of the way to earn the national championship. Probst finished in fourth place, just 0.1 back from being a medalist.
“Happy for Braden and Liz as they both competed very well today,” UK head coach Harry Mullins said. “We were hoping Liz would get on the podium as well, but she competed very well and just came a little short. As a team, we definitely did not have our best day today. We had some adversity that got us a little too out of sorts and we never recovered. We are going to have to regroup tonight and see what we can do tomorrow.”
As a team, Kentucky was led by Peiser, who posted a 596 score, which tied the NCAA Championship record. The junior shot a 196 in kneeling and followed with a perfect 200 prone and perfect 200 standing. It marks the second-straight match that he has posted perfect 200s in both prone and standing. Peiser ended with 37 centers. His impressive score was the best of the day in smallbore for the entire competition.
Probst was fantastic for Kentucky in the match, scoring a career-high tying 592. Probst, who had 37 centers in total, posted a 195 in kneeling, 200 in prone and 197 in standing.
Senior Sofia Ceccarello posted a 583 in smallbore, earning a 193 in kneeling, 198 in prone and 192 in standing with 30 total centers. Sophomore Sam Adkins scored a 582, posting a 198 in kneeling, 190 in prone and 194 in standing. Senior Martin Voss concluded the scoring with a 572 smallbore, posting a 190 in kneeling, 196 in prone and 186 in standing.
Ole Miss leads the team competition with a 2356, while TCU and Nebraska are tied for second at 2354 and Kentucky and West Virginia are tied for fourth at 2353. TCU and West Virginia hold the tiebreakers in the scenario based on having more center shots.
