Coast Guard, Sophia Wood Take Third at ASSA Intercollegiate Rifle Club National Championship

FORT WAYNE, In. - The Coast Guard Bears have found themselves on the national podium once again as they earned bronze in both smallbore and aggregate in the 2026 American Smallbore Shooting Association (ASSA) Intercollegiate Rifle Club National Championship. 

Four student-athletes represented the Coast Guard Academy at the tournament: Annabelle Schneider, Amanda Irizarry, Michael Perez, and Jacob Wymore. The Bears put up a strong 2054 team score, their second highest of the season, to start the weekend in the third place position after smallbore. With a score of 2147 in air rifle, their competitors just couldn't make up the difference to overtake Coast Guard for the aggregate podium where they finished third with an overall score of 4201. The Akron Zips Rifle Club and the University of Michigan took first and second, respectively, in both smallbore and aggregate. Individually, Schneider finished on top of the Bears' roster with scores of 558 in smallbore and 563 in air rifle. Schneider's smallbore score tied her season best to earn her an 8th-place finish in the event. 

The University of Rhode Island rifle program was well-represented as Sophia Wood, the 2026 Mid-Atlantic Rifle Conference bronze medalist for smallbore, earned a third-place individual finish in smallbore and aggregate as well. Wood's score of 569 on smallbore day provided a solid lead as she narrowly missed the air rifle podium by six points after firing a 577. Her 1146 aggregate landed her on the overall podium behind Hillsdale College's Benjamin Roche (1167) and University of North Dakota's Casia Steinhaus (1164).

Both Wood and teammate Alex Travison also brought home All-Star Team honors for the second consecutive season. Travison earned Second Team recognition in air rifle, his first Air Rifle All-Star Team nomination after being named to the Smallbore Second Team last year. Wood brings home First Team awards in all three categories: Smallbore, Air Rifle, and Aggregate. This marks her second consecutive selection to the Smallbore First Team, and her first time being named to the Air Rifle First Team after earning Second Team honors in 2025. This is also her first selection to the Aggregate All-Star Team.