While N.C . State students and fans closely watched an exciting month of March for the men’s basketball team, the school quietly celebrated another victory in one of the most unlikely sports imaginable – rifle shooting.
Indeed, State does have a rifle team, and it competes in two conferences, SEARC and GARC , and features members of both genders. The team receives little publicity compared to its big-revenue partners in basketball and football, and has seen even less success over the past three decades.
Enter freshman shooter Dani Foster.
Growing up in Newport News, Va ., Foster has gone “backwoods” shooting for as long as she can remember and began rifle shooting competitively when she was about nine years old. Throughout her school years, she earned national recognition, awards and even set two records in sub-junior categories.
These impressive feats transferred directly into her college game and the accomplishments keep adding up.
Foster earned first place individual honors at the South Eastern Air Rifle Conference Championships after winning the air rifle event and leading the Pack to a SEARC conference title.
Earlier in the season, Foster set two school records, shooting a score of 580 in smallbore and an aggregate score of 1165.
These impressive accomplishments helped her secure a place in the NCAA Rifle Championships, becoming the first Wolfpack shooter in 28 years to do so. The last State shooter to perform at the Championships was current head coach Keith Miller in 1984.
Upon selection, Foster traveled to the Ohio State University to compete in the smallbore competition. Shooting a score of 569, she placed 10th in her relay and finished 36th overall.
As expected, Foster was thrilled to have been selected.
“It was pretty exciting, because no one thought that we could really do it,” Foster said. “We were the underdogs in our conference, GARC . There are seven schools in that conference, and we came in last, so no one really expected us to be invited to NCAAs . No one [from N.C . State] had done it in almost 30 years.”
She continued to elaborate on the excitement of the situation, stating her teammates, alumni and parents were ecstatic she was selected. Her mother was so elated she made the journey to Ohio to watch her daughter shoot 60 rounds.
Foster feels through this experience, it will ultimately be beneficial for State’s rifle program.
“My coach actually got coach of the year in the GARC conference because we did so well towards the end of the season and was probably one of the reasons I was invited to the NCAA Championships,” Foster said. ”Things like that put us out there so that we can bring in better recruits.”
Foster is already looking forward to next season and hopes the team is able to perform at a higher level as well.
“I definitely plan on going back next year,” she said. “I just really want some of my teammates to go up with me and actually take a team, but we have to work up to that. It’s going to be hard, but it’s worth it.”
Although the Wolfpack’s season may be over, Foster is continuing to compete in the offseason. She is leaving for the Junior Olympics Thursday, which she believes will help show recruits what the team is capable of.
As a member of the rifle team, however, she has received little attention from the media on her accomplishments. She believes the rifle team, along with all other non-revenue sports, deserves more attention for the great things they do.
“I think every team deserves more recognition than they get,” Foster said. “Our cross-country team is really good, but not a lot of people know that. Same with golf and volleyball. No one ever talks about anything besides football and basketball, so I think all the sports should be recognized more.
“People need to know more about rifle.”
