Rachel Martin

Rachel Martin was named the sixth head coach in the history of the Nebraska rifle program on April 9, 2019. She begins her second season in 2020-21 after finishing her Husker career as a student-athlete in 2016-17.

Martin led the Huskers to the NCAA Championships in her first season after the team missed them the year before. However, Nebraska never got the chance to compete on the national stage as the championships were canceled due to the Coronavirus pandemic. While Martin didn't get the opportunity to finish the season, she still had a major impact in her debut year. Martin led the Huskers to a third-place regular-season finish in the Great America Rifle Conference (GARC) and a fourth-place finish at the GARC Championships. Individually, Emily Cheramie took home the smallbore title while Macey Way finished third. Under Martin, the Huskers posted the highest score in school history (4,707) and the second-highest air rifle score in school history (2,373). Cheramie and Elena Flake also tied the highest individual air rifle score in school history (597) during the 2019-20 season. Martin also produced three All-Americans in Elena Flake, Hana Musser and Macey Way.  

Martin brings extensive experience to Lincoln as a competitive shooter, and she also excelled in her first season as a collegiate rifle coach. Martin spent the 2018-19 season as an assistant coach at Army, where she helped the Black Knights to a sixth-place finish at the 2019 NCAA Championship, the program’s first NCAA Championship appearance in four seasons. Individually, Martin helped Payne Nunn post the highest air rifle score in program history en route to second-team All-America honors.

Martin is no stranger to high air rifle scores herself, as she owns the highest air rifle score in Nebraska history. She was also an NCAA champion and a seven-time All-American for the Huskers from 2014 to 2017. Martin earned All-America honors in both disciplines and was the 2015 NCAA smallbore champion. She competed in both disciplines at the NCAA Championship all four years of her career, posting a top-10 finish in both smallbore and air rifle. Her individual success helped Nebraska to four consecutive top-eight team finishes at the national meet, including a pair of top-five finishes.

After graduating from Nebraska in 2017, Martin moved to Colorado Springs to train at the United States Olympic Training Center. Martin has been a member of the USA Shooting World Cup team since 2013 and is a seven-time national champion. She spent more than a year as a resident athlete at the U.S. Olympic Training Center, during which time she also participated in a year-long internship with the 4th Judicial District Attorney’s office in Colorado Springs.

Originally from Peralta, New Mexico, Martin was a three-time academic All-Big Ten selection and made the Nebraska Scholar-Athlete Honor Roll every semester of her career as a religious studies major and political science, global studies and national security studies minor. In addition to excelling in the range and in the classroom, Martin was also an active member of the community during her Husker career, as she was a four-year member of the Tom Osborne Citizenship Team.