Students across the country are heading back to school and the 2011 Collegiate Rifle season is right around the corner. This past week the date for the final championship was locked in and now the schedule is set. The dates and locations of this year's collegiate championships are:

• NCAA Rifle Championships - March 10-12, Fort Benning, GA, Hosted by Columbus State University

• NRA Intercollegiate Pistol Championships - March 15-19, Fort Benning, GA

• ACUI Clay Target Championships - March 29-April 5, San Antonio, TX

• NRA Intercollegiate Rifle Club Championship - April 7-10, The Citadel, Hosted by Clemson University

“We’re grateful to be able to return to Benning for the pistol championship," said Victoria Croft, National Manager of the NRA Collegiate & Schools Program. "The AMU is a wonderful host and are great promoters of our championship."

The NRA Intercollegiate Rifle Club Championship, started last year at Purdue University, will be hosted next by Clemson University. "We are overflowing with excitement to the take the 2nd Annual NRA Intercollegiate Rifle Club Championship to The Citadel in Charleston, SC., with Clemson as the host," Croft said. We look forward to working with Clemson and The Citadel to make this championship a fantastic success for our club rifle shooters!”

Below are the scores for today's other matches in the Prone Championship. A 100 yard match and a 50 yard. Match 333, not finalized yet, is still open to challenges and positions may change. To put today's matches in perspective, over 37,000 rounds were fired over the course of the day.

Looking to pursue your love of the shooting sports in college? Parent of a rising college student who loves to shoot? Camp Perry will be host to two informational College Nights put on by the NRA during the smallbore matches these next two weeks.

High school and junior high shooters as well as their families are invited to come learn about what the NRA can provide for in the world of collegiate shooting. The National Manager of NRA Collegiate & Schools Program, Victoria Croft, as well as various college and university rifle coaches will be on hand to speak about collegiate shooting programs and answer any questions shooters or their parents may have.

College Night is not a recruiting event; the faculty present are simply there to inform and educate attendees on collegiate shooting. Plenty of informational pamphlets and brochures will be available to take home and look through if you are interested.

Both of the events will be held July 22 & 25 at 6:00 in the Hough Theater located on base.

Inside the Albuquerque Convention Center, there is no sound of compressed air leaving the barrel of rifles, but instead the quiet and focus of competitors learning in the classroom. Today the shooters get a break from competition to participate in the Training Summit, which is half a day of classroom lecture. 

The Training Summit covers a variety of topics geared towards young competitors. Up first was Marcus Raab, NRA National Coach Trainer (Rifle), who spoke about proper nutrition for athletes (pictured above).

"How many of you ate a proper breakfast this morning?" asked Raab as just a few hands shot up in the crowd.

Next, National Coach Development Staff member and well-known rifle coach John Crossman addressed the mental aspects of shooting to increase focus and discipline. Sheri Judd with NRA's Youth Programs Department took to the podium next to fill competitors in on all of the shooting programs NRA offers for young people, as well as scholarship programs such as the Outstanding Achievement Youth Award.   

Finally, Tori Croft, Manager of NRA's Collegiate Shooting Program, talked to competitors about the opportunities to shoot on a college team and earn college scholarships for shooting. 

Shooters then have the afternoon off to sightsee in Albuquerque and rest up for the final day of shooting tomorrow. Check back with NRAblog as we provide live coverage of the competition and update scores from the 2010 NRA National Junior Air Gun Championship.  

150 of the country’s best junior air rifle competitors are on their way to the Albuquerque Convention Center next week for the 2010 NRA National Junior Air Gun Championships and Training Summit.

Held June 23-26, these young shooters from 15 states will compete in the Sporter and/or Precision Class based on the type of equipment used. Competitors are then ranked in age groups according to their birth year: Sub-Junior – born 1996 or later; Intermediate Junior – born 1993-1995; Junior – born 1990-1992. Shooters may choose to shoot as individuals or as part of a four-person team.

NRAblog will be in Albuquerque to bring you live coverage and photos from the event, so check back to see which shooters and teams take top honors in 2010.

“We’re excited to bring this year’s National Junior Air Gun Championship and Training Summit to Albuquerque,” said Jessica McClain, NRA Air Gun Coordinator. “We have competitors traveling from all across the country to see how they measure up to other air gun shooters on a national level.”

The Training Summit is an important part of this annual event where attendees attend lectures from special guest speakers. Open to shooters, coaches, and parents, the Training Summit offers informational seminars on a variety of topics including mental and physical aspects of competition, nutrition for shooters, collegiate shooting opportunities, and information on other programs for youth offered by the NRA.

Check-in, equipment inspection, and practice will be held on Wednesday, June 23rd, with formal competition held on Thursday, June 24th and Saturday, June 26th. The Awards Ceremony will be held at 7:00 p.m. on Saturday. Shooters will have a break from competing in order to attend the Training Summit held on Friday, June 25th. On Thursday night, competitors can attend the Barter Bar, where shooters can swap and trade collectible items such as hats, pins, patches, or fun items that represent their home states.

Chip Lohman serves as Managing Editor of Shooting Sports USA magazine, published by the NRA for gun owners, competitive shooters, their fans, and the public. If you don't receive the magazine each month in your inbox, here's your chance! Click here to subscribe for FREE.

The video above follows participants through the inaugural NRA Club Collegiate Rifle championship. We're excited to see Lohman delving into the online video community. He tells us his next video will feature the NRA Bianchi Cup. Stay tuned!

This Daily Princetonian article paints a picture of Princeton’s Rifle Team, which was founded in 1875 and boasts 15 members:

Rifle team boasts world-class athletes

When Eric Hagstrom ’13 arrived on campus, he had only shot a rifle “once or twice before in Boy Scouts,” he said. Yet two weeks ago, Hagstrom, who joined the club rifle team in September, traveled to Purdue University to take part in the Intercollegiate Rifle Club Championship, which featured top clubs from across the country.

“There’s something inherently cool in shooting stuff,” said Hagstrom, the club’s treasurer and social chair. “It sounded pretty awesome, so I ended up joining.”

Founded in 1875, the team is among the University’s oldest. It has 15 current members, with internationally seasoned competitors and total novices competing side-by-side. Sandra Fong ’12, who represented the United States in the 2008 Summer Olympics, is joined by her sister and Olympic alternate, Abigail Fong ’10.

Joseph Sundra, a former Public Safety officer, has been coaching the team for 25 years.

“At the time [when I started coaching], ROTC was in charge of the team, but the Department of Defense sent down a memo saying if the rifle team was more than half filled with ROTC guys, they couldn’t supply support,” he explained. “I decided to give it a try, and it’s been a great experience all in all.”

Continue reading the article.

For more information on Collegiate Shooting, check out this website, or contact Tori Croft at (703) 267-1473, or by email at collegiate@nrahq.org.

The ACUI Clay Target Championships has experienced a steady growth in participation over the years. This year's leap included the addition of ten new teams, one of whom is Bethel University.

Fielding a team of 16, I thought Bethel had been competing for years and was surprised to learn that this was their first time at ACUI.

"This is our first year as a team," Head Shooting Coach Lance Rider said, when I asked why they never came out before.

After only one year, Bethel looks like they're on their way to becoming a top-notch program with a Silver finish in International Trap and several shooters finding a place towards the top in other events – very impressive.

Rider and Assistant Shooting Coach Bub Edwards (on the left and right respectively) were able to draw from their experience in shooting sports when it came to building the school's rifle team from scratch.

"We're both high school coaches so we went out and recruited from our pools," Rider said. "A few of our shooters had already committed to other colleges when we approached them. These are guys we'd known for years who started out at 14 or 15 in [the Scholastic Clay Target Program]."

"We only had four weeks of practice due to the weather," Edwards told me. "We practiced a little in the fall but mostly these past four weeks." 

Bethel is located in McKenzie, TN. Like much of the country, they experienced tremendous snowfall this winter which can wreck havoc on outdoor sports; especially ones that can't be done indoors.

On going up against big teams who have a lot of experience at ACUI like Lindenwood, Missouri and Texas A&M, Edwards said "You have to just go out there and do it – you've got to start somewhere."

The other schools making their first appearance this year are Baylor University, Eastern Wyoming College, Metro State College of Denver, Missouri State University, Murray State, Pikes Peak Community College, Pratt Community College, Texas State University-San Marcos and the University of Kentucky.

This year's championships feature over 300 competitors from 43 schools. Just about all of them are shooting, either in practice or a match, an eight hour day - for four days. That's a lot of of ammunition. Where does it all come from?

I sat down with John (pictured at right), who operates the Ammo Barn at the National Shooting Complex, to get the scoop on how they're able to accommodate so many people.

"Winchester," John told me. "Winchester donated all the ammo. They sent us nine pallets and each pallet had about 100 flats." All told, that comes out to 225,000 shells.

To make for as even a playing field as possible, everyone is required to shoot the same shell. In every event except skeet, Winchester 12 Ga. 2.75" 1 oz #7.5 is used; skeet is set to #8. And that's just for the matches. Shooters are allowed to use whatever they want when practicing, but they need to pay for it. In addition to Winchester, the Ammo Barn also stocks shells from Remington, Federal and Rio. These other brands are more popular for practice and are almost identical to the shells used in competition.

When I commented on the number of people here for the competition, John told me "We're sitting right under 800 acres with 50 skeet fields, 45 trap fields, six sporting clays fields and two for Five-Stand. In October we have Nationals for skeet and sporting clays and the skeet championships can bring up to 1,200 people." After walking around the past few days I knew the complex was big, but learning it can comfortably suit four times the number of people here this weekend put it in perspective.

Today was American Skeet and tomorrow, the last day, will be American Trap. After the final event, the NRA will be handing out its All American awards.

Yesterday was the International Trap championship at the National Shooting Complex in San Antonio, TX. The weather was much better and everyone took to the fields on equally short rest after Thursday's rainy International Skeet championship went late into the night.

The matches were held at the upper field this time, located right in front of Vendor Row where a slew of stores can be found for any shotgun or accessory needs.

NRABlog overheard a humorous exchange where one shooter told another that his phone went off in the middle of a round and cost him a hit.

The finals went off without a hitch and Megan Orle of Lindenwood University took home the gold for women while Travis Mears, also from Lindenwood, won the men's division. Lindenwood continued to remind everyone of its large presence after being represented by 7 of the 14 finalists. The University of Missouri shot better as a unit though, and claimed the team gold for their school.

Travis Mears has been on an absolute tear so far. He now has the gold in both International Skeet and Trap and is tied for first in Five-Stand and Sporting Clays. "International isn't even his strong event," exclaimed Russ Arnold from USA Shooting "American is what he's best known for." In other words, look for another strong showing from Mears in the upcoming American events.

Final scores for International Trap below the jump. More...

Last night's finals for International Skeet were hard fought and went into the night. Lindenwood took four of six in Men's and three of six in Women's in what looks like a taste of things to come. Here are the final standings and some pictures from the event:

More...

All scores are in for International Skeet which means it's time for the finals. The top six men and women will shoot in reverse order and in a short amount of time we'll have new champions.

For men: Jesse Molstre, LU; Cody Reid, LU; Travis Mears, LU; Frank Thompson, UC-CS; Logan Gaskins, TAMU; Rob Auerbach, LU.

For women: Jenny Romanin, CSU; Kim Peters Lauderdale, SIC; Jenna Mclean, LU; Sarah Hughes, LU; Alexander Chiang, LU; Caitlin Connor, PPCC.

In the meantime, have a look at some pictures from today's competition. 

This year's ACUI Clay Target Championships started with International Skeet and a hefty side of bad weather. A windy, overcast and misty morning turned into a rainy afternoon as shooters battled the elements in addition to each other. 

Under trees and tents or inside their cars, competitors and spectators alike took shelter when and where they could. The poor weather also created a delay for International Skeet which interfered with shooters who were planning to participate in Five Stand and Sporting Clays as well.

"Unfortunately you can't do anything about the weather," said ACUI's Michelle Smith. "It's always nice to shoot on a sunny day, but rain and wind are aspects of the sport that you must learn to deal with in order to compete at this level."

Though still inconvenient, Five Stand and Sporting Clays are being held throughout the championships and adjustments were able to accommodate those who were displaced.

Tomorrow is supposed to clear up, but Saturday has the chance of thunderstorms which could bring competition to a halt if they get too bad. Sunday will see clear weather again, so hopefully the shooters can take advantage of the good weather when able. 

Check below the jump for the results so far. Keep in mind that these are not the final tallys; score sheets will roll in for a while longer. As you'll see, the effects of the weather are definitely reflected in the scores. More...

NRABlog will be reporting from the 2010 ACUI Clay Target Championships for the next couple days. Held April 21-25 at the National Shooting Complex in San Antonio, Texas, yesterday saw the various teams showing up throughout the day and making sure all their paperwork was in order before getting a couple practice rounds in.

The real competition doesn't start until today, beginning with International Skeet. Also featured are American Trap, American Skeet, Five-Stand, International Skeet and new this year is Sporting Clays.

If you're not quite sure how to tell American and International Skeet apart, our very own Danielle Sturgis attended the ACUI Championships last year and did a nice write-up of the differences. 

This year, the 42nd holding of the event, 43 colleges have come to test their mettle against one another.

Last year's champion, Lindenwood University, is the favorite again. The university attracts many skilled shooters allowing them to field a huge team, of 56 to be exact, that competes well both together and individually. Of course, anything can happen in these four days and who knows which team will be standing at the top of the pedestal.

We'll be bringing pictures, interviews and score updates as the championships unfold. Hopefully the weather stays good and we get to see some exciting shooting.

The UA Fort Smith News recaps their team's performance at the NRA inaugural Intercollegiate Rifle Club Championship:

Lion Rifles Team Finishes 4th in Nation

The University of Arkansas - Fort Smith finished as the fourth-ranked air rifle team in the country at the inaugural Intercollegiate Rifle Club Championship at Purdue University.

“It was an amazing trip for our students,” said faculty adviser and coach Roy Hill of Rudy. “They got to compete in the very first match of this kind, connect with college club shooters from all over the country and meet some famous and important people. It was quite a weekend.”

Morgan Welch of Springdale shot a 535, good enough for 15th overall in the nation. Tom Nugyen of Fort Smith fired a 519, placing him at 21st in the nation. Alex Chanprasith of Fort Smith added a 511, which gave him 22nd in the nation.

Andy Land of Dover was not eligible for individual honors, but turned in a career-best 519, tying him with Nguyen.

“For Andy to shoot that score was phenomenal,” said Hill. “He's been shooting precision rifle for a little less than a semester, and for him to crank out his career best at such a high-pressure match is amazing.”

The team total of 2084 put UA Fort Smith behind Clemson University, with a 2186; the University of Michigan, with a 2177; and Illinois State University, which had a 2176. UA Fort Smith finished ahead of Michigan State, with a 2077; Indiana University of Pennsylvania, which had a 1992; and host Purdue University, which ranked 1747.

Read the rest of the article here.