North Carolina State cuts NCAA varsity rifle team

North Carolina State University (NC State) in Raleigh announced Tuesday that it had made the decision to discontinue its co-ed varsity rifle team.

Director of Athletics Boo Corrigan is quoted in the press release as saying, “After much consideration and a thoughtful evaluation of our program, we came to this difficult decision …. Being able to provide a top-level Division I experience for our student-athletes is our first priority and it is no longer feasible to do this for our rifle program.”

Founded in 1959, the varsity rifle team at NC State was one of only 29 still sponsored by US colleges and universities, as reported by ScholarshipStats.com.

Rifle competitions are one of the few collegiate competitive sports where men and women can compete together irrespective of biological differences.

In addition to NCAA competition, the team has also consistently competed in the Great American Rifle Conference Championships (GARC), hosted by the National Rifle Association (NRA). This year, the team ranked fifth for the smallbore event and seventh overall, improving its ranking from 2022.

The decision to disband the team does not appear to be related to the finances of the Athletics Department.

NC State sports teams across the board brought in over $92 million in revenue in 2020. With the help of alumni donations, the Athletics Department was also able to balance the 2021-2022 budget after cutting administrative overhead.

The Athletics Department announcement specified that the students on the varsity team who were recruited to the school will still continue to receive their athletic scholarships in addition to “sports psychology and sports medicine resources.”

“Should the students choose to transition the program to a club sport, the University will provide administrative support as they get established,” the press release adds.

Currently, there are no recognized Second Amendment or gun clubs at NC State.

NC State did not immediately respond to Campus Reform’s request for comment. This story will be updated accordingly.

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