Indiana Area Senior High School

*All school sports have been suspended until January as per the Pennsylvania Health Department

By KILEY BRANAN – Although there have been ups and downs during this school year, the IHS Rifle team is ready to get back to work to prepare for their season. They are hopeful that they will be able to get started with their season soon.

Much like other sports, the Rifle team was affected by COVID-19; they have fewer people signing up and they aren’t able to travel to as many schools as they would have been before. They will only be able to face three other schools this year.

The team is taking precautions at the preseason practices by having designated staggered times to be there and taking temperatures and asking about symptoms. 

This year the team is facing not only challenges with COVID but also challenges with changes regarding team shooting arrangements. Sophomore Elizabeth Flanders explained, “The biggest challenge is getting back to where we were before with only two seniors this year.” Due to everything that’s going on this year the coaches decided to implement different shooting arrangements. The plan is for all of them to shoot at once, with two relays per team, five on each line. Then the other team will shoot.

The biggest challenge for the team is placing well and getting in their practices. They lost a lot of their team when the class of 2020 graduated, and not everyone decided to come back during these unprecedented times. That being said, the team feels strongly about how they will do this year and feel they have a good group. “It seems like we have some good shooters from last year, so we might be able to place well,” commented junior Madeline Faulkner. 

Faulkner also brought light to how COVID rules are affecting the team’s interactions. They are only allowed to have four shooters in the range at one time; therefore, not everyone has met their fellow team members yet. Freshman Nathan Teacher mentioned, “I hope we can go back to practicing soon, although we can’t see the whole team at once it’s still nice to practice and talk with the few of them I do get to see.”

Excited to get back to practicing soon, the Rifle team is ready for their season to kick off to a good start. The team is looking forward to spending time working on their skills in the range leading up to their competitions, and are hopeful to come out of them with a high score.

 

Kiley Branan

Reporter, Business Manager

Kiley is a sophomore and second-year reporter for the High Arrow. She enjoys art and plays on the lacrosse team. She is excited to continue writing articles for the students and staff, and parents of IHS.