Mount Aloysius announces new coed rifle team
Trending
CRESSON -- Mount Aloysius College will become the first university in Pennsylvania with an NCAA coed rifle team, the college announced during a press conference Wednesday.
While Mount Aloysius is a member of the NCAA Division III Allegheny Mountains Conference, offering 17 varsity sports, the new Mounties Rifle Team will face Division II and Division I schools under the unique format of the NCAA rifle competition.
The collegiate rifle season begins in October, with regular meets until a holiday break, before restarting in January. The national championships will be held in Morgantown, West Virginia, at the WVU Coliseum on March 8-9.
Mount Aloysius athletic director Kevin Kime noted how "excited" college administrators are to offer the developing sport in a coed format.
"It is the only NCAA sport where men and women compete directly head-to-head, and the Mount is the only institution in Pennsylvania that will compete at the NCAA level," Kime said.
Team practice will take place at the Portage Revolver & Pistol Club range.
"They have been great to work with as we have figured out the logistics of this team," Kime said. "We are proud to call this club the home of the Mountie Rifle Team."
College President John McKeegan said the team, coach and student-athletes represent a very bright future for Mount Aloysius.
"The launch of our team speaks, in part, to the growing nature of this sport both nationally and in our region," McKeegan said.
Since more than 50 high schools across the state offer rifle teams, Mount Aloysius views the new team as a way of "serving a community need," McKeegan said, since student-athletes no longer have to leave Pennsylvania to pursue their passions.
"These students can now look close to home," he said.
Veteran shooter and Portage native Siarra Crum brings years of experience to her new role as team coach.
Crum, who competed for Portage Area High School, earned Collegiate Rifle Coaches' Association Scholastic All-American distinction two years in a row and qualified for the 2019 NCAA National Air Rifle Championship during her time at Morehead State University in Kentucky.
Since small-bore and air rifle are both high-precision sports, where medals are won on the finest of margins, coaching tailored to individual needs of each shooter is essential.
Key to this process is developing familiarity with the rifles themselves -- which are often fully-customized instruments that can cost upwards of $1,000 each.
"Athletes can bring their own gear, their own guns," Crum said. "In addition, Mount Aloysius is going to have a couple house guns and house gear so if students can not afford it, we can offer that to them."
While these rifles, alongside new electronic targets, will be a sizable outlay for the budding rifle team, they will also be an investment.
"I know going into college for me, I bought all my own rifles and everything, and it was definitely an extra expense, but also those lasted four years and I still have them today, and I can still go out and shoot," Crum said.
Crum said she plans to regularly suit up alongside her athletes to give them valuable hands-on experience.
"I'm just excited," Crum said. "I think this is a great opportunity for this area, and it's really needed for our students in high school to see that we believe in them."
Sydney Castel, a Mount Aloysius freshman, is one of two athletes in the first Mountie Rifle cohort. While the minimum team size needed to participate in NCAA competitions is five, Castel said she hopes to eventually have eight to 10 teammates.
"I plan on helping out the team and helping this sport reach the next level and finding new competition," Castel said.
Castel, who began shooting in sixth grade, placed 12th in the state in air rifle competition for Portage Area High School and wanted to continue with rifle team after a "rewarding" initial experience.
As fellow Portage alumnae, Castel first met Crum years prior to their reunion at Mount Aloysius.
"I worked with her all through high school," Castel said. "She's an awesome coach, very kind and respecting, and always there if you need anything, so I plan on helping her out because she showed me I can do anything I put my mind to."