Mid-Atlantic Rifle Conference Announces Championship Tournament Selections

CAMBRIDGE, Ma. – The Mid-Atlantic Rifle Conference (MAC) has concluded its regular season and named its invitees to the 2026 MAC Championship Tournament. The Tournament is scheduled to be held at MIT on February 28th and March 1st, and will feature a field of 35 athletes in each of two events.

Earning team invitations this year for both smallbore and air rifle were Mount Aloysius College, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Schreiner University, Norwich University, John Jay College, and the University of Rhode Island. Additional at-large individuals from both the U.S. Coast Guard Academy and S.U.N.Y. Maritime were selected to attend.

Mount Aloysius College, the reigning MAC Tournament champions, continued their strong start as a young program with another dominant season in which they hold the conference’s top smallbore and air rifle team averages at 2239.17 and 2305.17, respectively. Individually, four of five athletes on the roster hold spots in the top ten in the MAC for one or both events: Molly Miller (3rd smallbore, 1st air), Kayla Trinkle (4th smallbore, 4th air), Sydney Castel (8th smallbore, 5th air), and James Stevens (6th smallbore). Miller once again fired the conference’s top individual air rifle score, having notched a 591 on October 26th against Norwich at West Point.

MIT has remained steady this season, second in overall average for both events. In their NCAA Qualifier match against Norwich on February 21, the Engineers fired season highs across the board including a 2185 smallbore and 2285 air rifle. Individually the Engineers are led by sophomore Eleanor Yang, who holds the 2nd highest air rifle average and ranks 5th for smallbore. Freshman William Knowlton has also made a strong showing, as he sits just outside the top ten in 12th for smallbore and 14th for air rifle.

Schreiner University, in their second season as an NCAA program, made marked improvements in both events compared to last season, led by freshman Molly Mitchell. Mitchell holds the conference-high individual smallbore score this season, scoring 579 at TCU on January 18th, and ranks 2nd overall in the event. She also is in the top five for air rifle, sitting in 3rd. Returner Cora Anderson, who holds the 10th place ranking in both smallbore and air rifle, and senior team captain Isabella Evans also contributed heavily to the Mountaineers’ scoring squad.

Norwich University has focused heavily on individual specialization this season, and it’s paying off as they see another invitation to the MAC tournament. Evan Elders, ranked 12th, leads the Cadets in smallbore but his teammates are not far behind as Norwich also holds the 15th, 16th, and 20th ranks for individual smallbore. On the air rifle side, it’s Kathryn Gillooly who shines, ranking 16th in the conference for the event.

John Jay College has had a particularly strong air rifle team this season, with newcomer Mahek Dalwala and senior Danny Canning highlighting the Bloodhounds’ starting roster. Canning holds the conference-high aggregate average among fourth-year athletes, ranking 14th overall for smallbore and 8th for air rifle. Dalwala, in her rookie season, sits in 6th overall for air rifle. The Bloodhounds’ 2285 season opener air rifle team score puts them in elite company as only they, MIT, and Mount Aloysius exceeded 2270 in the event this year.

The Rhody Rams continue their unbroken streak of qualifying for the conference tournament in their third season with the conference. Sophia Wood leads the team again with the conference’s 2nd highest smallbore average and 6th for air rifle. Alexander Travison bolsters a deep roster for the Rams, sitting at 9th in both smallbore and air rifle. Emily Lopez holds the 7th place ranking for smallbore, rounding out a core group of elite returners. The Rams look to showcase their strength as a collegiate club program against a field of primarily NCAA competitors. Their smallbore team score of 2208 fired on January 24th at West Point makes them one of only two teams in the conference to achieve a score above 2200 in the event this season.

Qualifying individually for both smallbore and air rifle are U.S. Coast Guard Academy athletes Annabelle Schneider and Amanda Irizarry, and S.U.N.Y. Maritime athlete Sharath Peddapalli. For smallbore, Coast Guard’s Michael Perez and S.U.N.Y. Maritime’s Nikolaos Bennett earn the remaining pair of at-large invitations. On the air rifle side, it is Maritime’s Alex Samuilov and Abigail Wells who will take the fourth and fifth at-large spots. Schneider owns a top twenty average in both smallbore and air rifle, returning to the tournament as an at-large individual for the second consecutive year. Peddapalli is also one to watch, as he has steadily increased his air rifle scores with every match this season. Four of the seven at-large invitees are rookies, setting up a strong outlook for the conference field in years to come.

Though the tournament will mark the end of the season for the conference’s NCAA teams, look for the University of Rhode Island and the Coast Guard Academy at the American Smallbore Shooters Association’s Intercollegiate Rifle Club Championship in Fort Wayne, IN later this spring. Both programs have found success on the national stage in recent years, with the Rams earning a third-place overall finish at last year’s intercollegiate championship and the Bears taking the runner-up position in 2022.