The NCAA Men's and Women's Rifle Committee pulled the trigger on three significant changes to the national championships format in a move the group hopes will add to the already high intensity of the sport.

Effective with the 2005 national championships, the course of fire was shortened by half the number of shots, and a final round was added to determine the individual champions in smallbore and air rifle. Also, for the first time, electronic targets will be used for scoring throughout the tournament.

Previously, the course of fire during the championships included 120 shots in smallbore -- 40 shots each in the prone, standing and kneeling positions -- and 40 shots in air rifle. Beginning this year, competitors will shoot 60 shots in smallbore -- 20 shots each prone, standing and kneeling -- and complete a 60-shot air rifle match.

Many schools already have instituted the format into regular-season invitationals and competitions.

Valerie Boothe, head rifle coach at the University of Mississippi and chair of the rifle committee, said the course change was precipitated in part by a desire to decrease the length of rifle matches. In the previous set-up, shooting and scoring the full course could take upwards of six to eight hours. With the half course in place, competition times have dipped to the five-hour range.

The course adjustment does more, though, than make the competition day shorter for student-athletes. It also equalizes the influence of smallbore and air rifle in determining the overall team national champion.

"The overall champion was whatever team had the highest score for smallbore and air rifle combined. Really, whoever won smallbore basically won the championship because you had more points available," said Boothe. "Now it's more equitable and I think it is a truer measure of the national champion to have it at 60 shots each for smallbore and air rifle."

The shorter course also could signal an end to wide margins of victory.

"Before, with a greater number of shots, we've had some landslide victories. That's not going to happen anymore," Boothe said. "The competition is going to be real tight and you're not going to know who wins until that very last shot. That's what makes it great."

Boothe said some coaches were concerned that the decrease in the number of shots in smallbore would produce too many ties, but to this point in the season, the results have not supported that theory.

Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology head coach Michael Ray said the shorter course has produced closer scores, but he argues that it makes for a more exciting competition.

"Which would you rather see?" he said. "A match decided by only one or two points or 50?"

While shorter matches and closer victories may increase fan interest, the committee aims to create an even bigger boost with two other changes: the debut of electronic targets and the addition of a 10-shot final to determine the smallbore and air rifle individual national champions.

10-shot final

Among the obvious advantages of using the electronic targets is that they offer immediate scoring, which makes matches easier for audiences to follow and provides shooters with instant feedback on their performance.

"The only downside to electronic targets is that they are computers, and computers go out of date very quickly," Boothe said. "But there is so much more good that outweighs that. It's really worth putting the time and effort into maintaining these to have them in the sport."

The committee also hopes to lure spectators with the addition of a final round to determine the individual national champions in smallbore and air rifle. At past championships, once all shooters finished the course, the national titles were handed out to the top scorers in each discipline.

Now, after initially completing the course, the top eight student-athletes will be invited back to further test their skill in a 10-shot final.

"Starting with this championship in March, it could be someone coming from third place as the winner. You can really make up ground with 10 more shots in the final," Boothe said.

In a related adjustment, one day of the tournament will be devoted to smallbore and another will feature air rifle. Previously, the team competition was completed one day and the individual contests were conducted on another. The change means there will be a final round on each day of competition.

Overall, Boothe said reaction to the pending changes has been positive.

"We do have several student-athletes who didn't support the changes at first. But for the most part I haven't seen any negative reactions. I think student-athletes like completing the competition a little bit earlier. I think they like the new format better," she said.

International development

Of all the changes, Ron Wigger, head coach at the U.S. Military Academy, said the addition of electronic targets and finals are the significant improvements. He said those modifications more closely align NCAA championships competition with international contests and help fans and student-athletes follow the results more easily.

"The finals will make it very competitive and the targets will add spectator appeal because everyone can see instantly who the winner will be," Wigger said. "We don't get a lot of media coverage for rifle and this should help, especially for television."

Beyond the loftier goal of increasing spectator appeal, rifle committee member Launi Meili, head coach at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, believes the final provides an excellent training experience for student-athletes who will go on to compete at the international level. This is key, given that collegiate programs tend to be a vital feeding ground for the U.S. national teams.

"The regular part of the match is like training for endurance. The final is like a sprint. It's a whole different way to train and without having it, we really were leaving out a big part of what it would take to shoot at the international level," she said.

Ray points out that the majority of student-athletes who make it to the NCAA championships will have experienced finals and electronic targets at the Junior Olympics or other similar competition. But he said the new course of fire for NCAA championships may force student-athletes to change their mental approach to the competition, especially in smallbore.

"It used to be you could have a few off shots and could make up that difference on your remaining shots. Now with only half the shots, a bad one is more likely to knock you out of the finals in the individual competition, which will be just like a World Cup event," Ray said.

While Ray believes each of the changes is significant, he thinks the addition of electronic targets is key because of the ability to gain instant feedback, and it provides an avenue for instituting a final. But with only one school so far that has electronic targets in use throughout the regular season, his biggest concern is ensuring that electronic targets remain a fixture at future championships.

"We were fortunate to be able to have them this year, and it would be step backward if we didn't have them next year. They make it so much nicer for spectators, scoring and finals," he said.

Boothe said the committee is aware of the issue and looking into solutions.

"We're working on this. This is something we're trying to move toward because it is just so much more spectator-friendly. It's going to bring our sport some excitement," she said.

Equipment availability issues aside, Meili sees the changes as a definite step in the right direction for the sport.

"When they were shooting that full course, it was a very long day and at the end you had to wait to see who the winner was. It was anti-climactic," she said. "Now we have a real climax to the day and it's much more intense."