Cooper Gray has always seen the world through a lens of precision. Whether he's on the range or under the hood of a car with his dad, he finds focus in the details. That same focus led him to Morehead State, where he's found a home in the classroom and on the rifle team.
"I knew I wanted to do engineering, but I never was drawn fully to one field over another," Gray said. "When I came to Morehead State on my official rifle visit and had a tour of the Space Science Center, I knew I wanted to come here."
The campus felt right. The mountains, historic buildings, and tight-knit community matched the team culture he saw during the Eagle Open and his official visit. "We operate more as a family than anything," he said. "I fell in love with the campus. It felt like a home away from home where I could succeed both academically and athletically."
For Gray, rifle is as much a mental game as it is a physical one. "I have always explained rifle as a mentally challenging sport over physically," he said. "While you need to have a physically fit body for endurance, you also need a mentality that can handle never being perfect."
Matches require stamina and control—holding a gun that can weigh up to 17 pounds for more than an hour at a time. But it's the mental side that tests him most. "To shoot a 10 in our sport you're expected to hit or cover a 12-point font period at 10 meters," he said. "You're trying to do that 60 times in a little over an hour. It's mentally draining and takes mental toughness like no other."
That toughness showed up during one of his most memorable competitions—his first match against Murray State as a freshman. "It was my first time traveling with the team and seeing how I could perform in a collegiate environment," he said. "I had some setbacks with smallbore, but I came in and shot a personal best in air rifle—a record I'm still chasing to this day." What made it special was the reaction from his teammates. "The team was so excited for me," he said. "It felt good to show I deserved a spot."
Support has been a constant theme in Gray's story. He credits head coach
Alan Joseph for creating a culture where athletes can thrive. "Coach Alan is one of the most supportive people I have in my life," Gray said. "He puts us in a position to succeed and just having that backbone of a coach who is supportive, helpful, friendly, and kind is something that everyone needs."
That support extends to his teammates, who help each other improve both on and off the range. "Our team is close, and that helps us succeed," he said. "Recently I've had teammates help me with some of my weak points in my shooting and process."
He's also had mentors outside of college who have shaped his path. "My junior coach, Gary Trisdale, has been a major role model for me," Gray said. "He instilled confidence in me and made me believe that even when things are hard, with time and effort you can overcome them and succeed."
When Gray isn't training or studying, he finds peace in other passions. Golf has become a favorite way to unwind, thanks to a childhood friend who handed him a set of clubs and invited him to the course. He also spends time working on cars with his dad—a hobby that's turned into a meaningful project. "We're restoring my 1973 Porsche 914 that we bought after it had been sitting in a field for two years," he said. "My dad has always been a key role in my life, and this is by far the most special thing we've worked on together."
Those experiences have reinforced the lessons rifle has taught him. "Rifle has taught me discipline," Gray said. "You have to trust that your practice will guide you in matches. It's something I've used in engineering to trust that I can recover from a bad test and that things will work out."
He's also learned the value of community. "Rifle is not a one-man sport," he said. "You need people who support you and believe in you. That's going to guide me in life—to choose wisely on friends, jobs, and the environment I want to be in."
