Georgia Southern Adds Women’s Rifle Team

April 15, 2013

Georgia Southern Director of Athletics Tom Kleinlein announced today that the University will add women’s rifle as its 16th intercollegiate program beginning in the 2013-14 season.

A total of 34 NCAA schools sponsor rifle, including a combination of coed, men’s and women’s teams, and 22 compete at the Division I level. Eight schools compete in Division I women’s rifle, and 13 compete in mixed rifle. The NCAA scholarship limit for Division I is 3.6.

Kleinleinalso announced that MSG Tim Parks will serve as the program’s first coach. The Eagles will use the shooting range behind the Recreation Activity Center on Register Road as their home facility until the Georgia Southern Shooting Sports Education Center, slated to open in the fall of 2014, is completed.

“The strength of the Georgia Southern ROTC program and its relationship with Eagle athletics coupled with the plans for an on-campus, state-of-the-art shooting facility makes women’s rifle a perfect addition to our lineup of intercollegiate sports,” said Kleinlein. “As with all of our athletics programs, we expect to be competitive on a yearly basis.”

The Shooting Sports Education Center will be 20,000-25,000 square feet, designed for future expansion and will include both indoor archery and firing ranges and outdoor archery ranges. The proposed site is adjacent to the Recreation Activity Center and M.C. Anderson Recreation Park on Georgia Southern’s main campus.

Georgia Southern will conduct tryouts May 1 from 3 p.m. – 6 p.m. at the shooting range behind the Recreation Activity Center on Register Road. Students must bring a copy of a physical within the last six months signed by a physician and proof of medical insurance to try out. For more information, contact Senior Woman Administrator Cathy Beene via email at cbeene@georgiasouthern.edu. Click here for the sickle cell waiver. Click here for the medical history form.

“The addition of a women’s rifle program and added athletic scholarship opportunities for female student-athletes is a  positive effect of our decision to move up to FBS,” said Kleinlein. “Starting a women’s rifle program fulfills an NCAA requirement of sponsoring 16 varsity programs in order to compete at the FBS level.”

Georgia Southern will compete in the Air Rifle discipline to start. Air Rifle uses a 0.177 caliber pellet, and shooters are 10 meters from the target. For women, the shooter gets 40 targets and one shot per target. Each shot scores from 1-10, and a perfect score is 600. The total time limit to complete the targets is one hour, 15 minutes. Each team declares five shooters before the match, and four scores count towards the overall team score.

Other Division I women’s rifle programs in the Southeast include The Citadel, The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) and Ole Miss. Mixed rifle programs in the region include Wofford, NC State and Kentucky. West Virginia won the National Championship in 2013, its 15th title.

Georgia Southern University, a Carnegie Doctoral/Research University founded in 1906, offers 125 degree programs serving more than 20,500 students. Through eight colleges, the University offers bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degree programs built on more than a century of academic achievement.  Georgia Southern is recognized for its student-centered approach to education. Visit: www.georgiasouthern.edu.