Potts twins providing a positive spark to Eagle Rifle program

One look at the Morehead State rifle team and opposing coaches may want to take a double shot of, er, espresso.
 
The MSU roster includes hotshot twins Alexa and Karly Potts.
 
They are among four freshmen on a 2016 team that already this season has set school records for aggregate and air rifle totals.
 
Through five matches, Alexa has average scores of 563.3 in smallbore and 575.8 in air rifle. Karly is at 560 in smallbore and a team-high 587 in air rifle.
 
Coach Alan Joseph first spotted the Potts twins in July 2015, when he made a recruiting trip to their junior rifle club in Palmyra, Pa.
 
Later that month, the twins made an unofficial visit to MSU. An official visit followed in October, and the Pottses committed to the Eagles in November.
 
"I found them to be very qualified, capable, and they were a good fit for our program," Joseph said. "… And when I do evaluations of potential student-athletes, I screen them as best I can for fit, chemistry, academic and where I feel they're headed as student-athletes, not just what they're doing today. I try to look in the crystal ball a little further down the road."
 
Alexa, who would like to become an attorney and eventually a judge, has a double-major in legal studies and history, with a minor in Spanish. Karly is a business administration major, also with a minor in Spanish.
 
The 18-year-olds are relatively new to the sport. They credit their father, Dan, for literally pushing them through the door when they were high school freshmen.
 
"When my dad found out we had a rifle team – he was very into hunting and he kind of forced me and my sister," Alexa said. "He said 'oh, it's going to be a great opportunity; go sign up for this!' So he dragged us there, kicking and screaming. … I thought it was going to be like the most red-necked sport I had ever seen. Karly's really into art. I play on the flute and the piano."
 
To their surprise, the twins quickly took a liking to the sport.
 
Perhaps that should have been expected, as Karly says they "are actually related to Annie Oakley somehow."
 
They excelled on their high school team, which Alexa captained as a sophomore and Karly led as a junior.
 
They began to look for ways to push their skills to a higher level. That led them to the Palmyra Sportsmens Association, which is about a 45-minute drive from their home in Ephrata, Pa.
 
While the high school sport was limited to prone air rifle competition, the girls were introduced to smallbore and three-position shooting at the club level.
 
Their coach at Palmyra, Erin Gestl, informed them that there was such a thing as collegiate rifle competition.  Until then, they had no idea.
 
College definitely interested the twins. They worked. They improved.
 
They made it to the USA Shooting Nationals and, in 2015, went overseas to compete in the British Junior Nationals.
 
And now they're working harder than ever, still competing with one another.
 
"We're both very competitive," Karly said. "I think we definitely push each other, because if we see that if one of us is able to shoot a score, the next one's going to be jumping up and shooting a point better the next match or the next practice. We're definitely pushing each other to get to higher levels in the sport."
 
Being a part of the MSU program helps. Rather than traveling to Palmyra two or three times a week, the twins can shoot on a daily basis in MSU's Button Rifle Range.
 
There's plenty of one-on-one time with Joseph.
 
He keeps an eye on the physical demands. After all, maintaining a low heartbeat is an essential for a shooter. Matches last four hours or more, with much of the time standing, so a strong lower-back core is necessary.
 
What Joseph really stresses, though, is what he calls "our mental."
 
"Mentally, it's another very, very important aspect that they come into that contest prepared to succeed," he said. "And no matter what the opposition is. One thing that's very interesting about us is I have no pitcher that in a baseball game is a dominant player and can shut the other team down. There's no defense in the sport of rifle. So we have to be on our best if they're shooting their best."
 
Another change from the Pottses early days in the sport is the equipment.  When they broke in, they used club-owned guns and club suits. Within the last 18 months, they bought their own guns, and added suits over the summer.
 
That's a substantial investment. Alexa estimates cost of a suit at $2,000. Each of the guns – smallbore and rifle – costs about that or more. Boots can be another $250 or more, a sling another $100, gloves $50. And so on, including sights and ammo.
 
It's all been worth it, though.
 
"I'm just really thankful to the sport for giving me opportunities that I never would have expected," Alexa said. "Like I said, two summers ago I was able to travel out of the country to shoot. I plan on returning to England again to shoot this summer.
 
"I expected that I was going to go to a school close to home and just try to save money that way. I never expected that I would be able to travel out of state to Kentucky and go to a school there. … You have opportunities to interact with amazing shooters and coaches. Yeah, rifle has provided me a lot of opportunities."
 
And, occasionally, a few laughs.
 
Alexa says that classmates, upon learning that she's on the rifle team, sometimes ask if she shoots animals.
 
And Karly says she had this exchange: "Oh, you're on the rifle team. What do you do – twirls?"
 
"No, no," Karly said. "We shoot guns. We don't twirl them."
 
Competition consists of 60 standing shots in air rifle. Smallbore features another 60 shots – 20 standing, 20 kneeling and 20 in the prone position.