UND freshman balancing life as national rifle champ and student

EMERADO, N.D. (KVRR) – Balancing college life and the sport you love can be challenging, and one UND freshman knows all about that. Casia Steinhaus, who’s from Devils Lake, is the only representative of UND for rifle shooting.

Competing in the National Intercollegiate Rifle Championships in March, Steinhaus swept the competition and took home the top awards. This includes the air rifle, smallbore and overall champion as well as being named to the All Star 1st Team.

“You just have to be completely focused on not the score, not the end result but what you’re doing and the whole goal is to make every shot exactly the same.” said Steinhaus.

She did all of this while double majoring in math and physics at the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks. As she has to balance the tests, the classes and workload while training at the shooting range.

“Right now it’s about the hardest it’s been. But it’s still doable. And it’s great having professors who not only make accommodations for me” said Steinhaus.

This freshman has been competing on the big stage in her sport, including in the air rifle category for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic trials. And is only getting better and better as the years go by.

“The first time I qualified it blew my mind. I started precision rifle Fall when I was 11. And that very next year I qualified for junior Olympics. It’s always been crazy to me.” said Steinhaus.

For Steinhaus, it came down to perseverance to stay in the sport and work to get better.

“There were times where I didn’t think I was going anywhere with it or improving. The only way you get anywhere is if you keep going for six years and don’t give up.” said Steinhaus.

Steinhaus is currently preparing for the 2024 USA Shooting National Junior Olympic Pistol Championship in Colorado Springs, CO.