Launi Meili - Rifle Coach - Air Force Academy Athletics

Launi Meili

Title:
Rifle Head Coach
Email:
Launi.Meili@afacademy.af.edu
Phone:
719-333-1797

1992 Olympic Gold Medalist - Smallbore - Barcelona
2006 Great America Rifle Conference Coach of the Year
U.S. National Team Assistant Coach (1997-2000)
Member of USA Shooting Board of Directors (2006-2012)
NCAA Men’s and Women’s Rifle Committee (2003-2007)
Creator of International Coach Certification program
Author “Rifle: Steps to Success”, Published by Human Kinetics, 2008
ISSF Junior Cups coach, featuring junior athletes in Olympic and Youth Olympic events, 2014, Suhl, Germany
Patriot Rifle Conference Commissioner, 2014 to present

Launi Meili enters her 18^th season as the rifle coach at the Air Force Academy. Meili was named head coach of the Falcons in the summer of 2018, after serving as the head coach at Nebraska for five seasons.
Meili has taken the Air Force rifle program to a new heights and has put the Falcons on the national map. Meili has led the Falcons to 11 straight NCAA Championship appearances and 11 straight President’s Trophies by defeating both Army and Navy.
In 2024-25, Meili led the team to a seventh-place finish at the NCAA Rifle Championships, recording the team’s third highest score at the national meet in school history. Air Force earned its 11^th straight President’s Trophy by defeating Army and Navy, with a President’s Trophy record aggregate of 5890.
The 2023-24 Falcons placed fifth at the NCAA Rifle Championships, matching the 2022 finish and tied as the best since the 2019 team placed third. The team’s 4709 score is the second-best ever at the NCAA Championships. The Falcons also placed second at the Patriot Rifle Championships, tying as the best finish in five seasons. Four team members earned nine All-America honors
In 2022-23, the Falcons placed third in the nation in air rifle and four members of the team earned All-America status.

In 2021-22, Meili coached freshman Scott Rockett to the NCAA air rifle championship, a first in program history. The 2021-22 team had four individuals earn seven All-America honors as the team placed fifth at the NCAA Championships, hosted at Clune Arena, with a school-record NCAA score of 4712.
The 2020-21 Falcons placed eighth at the NCAAs with a team score of 4656. The Falcons qualified for the 2019-20 NCAA Championships, but the championship was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2018-19, the Falcons won the team air rifle national title, another first in program history. The 2019 team placed third in the nation, tying as the third highest in Falcon history. The 2019 team also won its first ever Patriot Conference championship with a team score of 4708. That team featured five all-conference selections and seven All-America honors.

Meili and the 2017-18 team finished second in the Patriot Rifle Conference and fifth in the nation at the NCAA Rifle Championships. Three cadet-athletes (Logan Ogden, Anna Weilbacher, and Spencer Brandon), were named to the National Rifle Association’s Collegiate All-American list.

In 2016-17, Meili took Air Force to an eighth-place finish at the NCAAs. Following the nationals, Air Force athletes earned seven All-America awards, to include All-Americans selected to the College Rifle Coaches Association (CRCA) team.

In 2015-16, Air Force finished fourth in the NCAA. Going into the NCAAs, Air Force was ranked sixth in the CRCA Polls (Feb. 16) and went on to finish fourth in the overall team standings with a 4669.

Air Force had one cadet-athlete, senior David Higgins, make the 2016 U.S. Olympic Smallbore Team, freshman Spencer Cap made the 2016 Junior Olympic Team, and senior Ryan Jacobs made the 2016 U.S. National Team.

In 2014-15, Air Force finished seventh in the country, and senior Meredith Carpentier (the only AFA shooter to qualify in 2014) and junior Tyler Rico earned NRA All-American honors as well as receiving honors from the CRCA.

In 2012-13, Air Force made its first NCAA appearance since 2003. The rifle team finished fifth overall in the NCAAs and Carpentier and Rico were selected All-Americans (first and second team).

Prior to Air Force, Meili was the head coach at Nebraska, where she led the all-women Cornhuskers to a No. 2 national ranking in the 2004-05 season. The team finished fifth at the NCAAs in 2007. While at Nebraska, she coached 21 All-Americans, an NCAA individual champion and placed seven women on the U.S. Development team. In addition, Meili led Nebraska to a pair of Great American Rifle Conference Championships, while earning coach of the year honors in 2006.

As a shooting competitor, Meili shot for the U.S. Shooting team for 10 years. In that time, Meili participated in two Olympic Games, two Pan American games and a World Championship. During her career, she produced three world records, three Olympic records, a world team championship and the Olympic Gold medal in Barcelona in 1992, becoming the first American woman to ever win gold in smallbore.

She also placed 11th in air rifle in Barcelona after finishing sixth in air rifle and seventh in three-position rifle at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul. She remains the only woman to compete in both events at two Olympics. Meili is also a seven-time national champion in three-position rifle, setting three world shooting records and numerous national records in her outstanding shooting career.

After retiring from competitive shooting in 1992, Meili spent 10 years coaching junior and elite level shooters and instructing athletes at shooting clinics and camps nationwide. She served as assistant coach for the U.S. National Rifle Team from 1997 to 2000 and is helping coach the residents at the Olympic Training Center. Meili helped produce the International Coach Certification Program, the highest level of coaching credential recognized by USA Shooting and the National Rifle Association. During the 2004-05 season, Meili was recognized for her outstanding achievement to the sport by being inducted into the International Shooting Hall of Fame. In 2014, Meili was the inaugural ISSF Junior Cups coach, a new Championship series featuring competitions for junior athletes in Olympic and Youth Olympic events, with the competitions held in Suhl, Germany.

Meili earned her master’s degree in sports psychology from the University of Idaho in 2001. She also holds a bachelor’s degree in nutrition and exercise physiology from Eastern Washington University. She has written “Rifle: Steps to Success”, published by Human Kinetics in 2008. She has also created the “mental training workshop” taught to athletes, coaches, and business personnel in the U.S. and Japan.

A native of Spokane, Wash., Meili and her husband, Kevin Geddes, have a son, Bryce Owen.