Embracing The Moment

Oct. 20, 2011

by: John Holt, Media Relations Student Assistant

A collegiate athletic career is something most all student athletes try to treasure.

And, while four years sounds like a lot of time, almost any former collegiate athlete will admit the years and memories pass by faster than they ever could have imagined.

Ole Miss rifle senior standout Keely Stankey is beginning to realize it herself.

While Stankey doesn't like to think too far ahead she does acknowledge that her outstanding Ole Miss rifle journey will be complete in less than six months.

SUCCESSSFUL BEGINNING

The only senior on this year's Rebels roster, Keely Stankey started shooting at the age of thirteen.

Like several of her teammates, it was Stankey's father, Greg, who introduced his daughter to the sport she's come to excel in today.

As a kid growing up in Minneapolis, Stankey played the piano, was involved in school orchestra and for one year, a swimmer. However following her freshman year of high school while attending Marantha Christian Academy, she elected to shift her entire focus to rifle.

The decision proved to be a wise one, as she became the 2007 Minnesota National Rifle Association smallbore and air rifle open champion and the next year, would go on to become the State Junior Olympics smallbore champion. Most impressively however, in 2003 when Stankey was just the age of 14, she became the youngest competitor ever to win first place air rifle at the National Guard Championships.

"Right after I started shooting, I knew my ultimate goal was to shoot at the collegiate level," Stankey said.

HEADING SOUTH

It's not that common for natives of Minnesota to attend the University of Mississippi but Stankey states that she always had wanted to attend a college in the South.

During high school, colleges such as Kentucky, Memphis, TCU and UTEP all recruited Stankey. But for Stankey, Ole Miss stood above the others because of how comfortable she felt after taking her official visit.

"She was one of the top shooters in the country coming out of high school," Ole Miss head coach Valerie Boothe said of recruiting Stankey. "That was the first thing that peaked our interest. She is a great kid and had great academics. We just really liked her and her personality. We really thought she would be a good fit for the program and help us out. That's how we had to sell it to her. We told her you're going to have to come in, make a name for yourself and help our program succeed. She's done exactly that."

INSTANT IMPACT

When she first arrived in Oxford during the fall of 2008, Stankey immediately made her presence known to the program.

Never having participated in smallbore prior to college, Stankey showed she is fast learner. At the conclusion of her freshman season she posted the teams best smallbore score average. The Rebels had 14 matches that season, and Stankey's smallbore scores contributed in all of them (her smallbore scores were team-highs in eight of the 14 matches).

"I used to hate smallbore but now it's probably my favorite," Stankey said. "It definitely took me awhile to get settled to the system of college shooting. It's different when you're shooting for yourself. In high school, that's what I was used to because I wasn't shooting for a team. I think it's a lot more pressure shooting on a team because coaches are depending on you and your teammates. I think at the beginning of my career, the pressure kind of brought down my scores a little bit. But last year, I think I got better."

TRIUMPH AND DEFEAT

Stankey's sophomore season quite arguably could be labeled as the finest so far in her career.

She finished third at the GARC Championship, earned All-GARC honors and her smallbore scores once again were the best on the Rebels team. She also led the team with an air rifle average of 584 during the 2009-10 season.

Yet at the conclusion of Stankey's sophomore season her greatest accomplishment and ironically, largest setback in her rifle career occurred.

Stankey qualified individually for the 2010 NCAA Championships in air rifle that season and led the entire air rifle group with a total of 595 heading into the NCAA finals.

However being only a sophomore at the time, Stankey admits that the pressure of the moment caught up with her.

She shot a disappointing final round score and wound up finishing seventh.

"You can't change what's happened in the past so I try not to dwell on it," she said. "I try to look to the future with a positive attitude and remember whenever I'm going through a bad day there's always someone going through something worse."

Stankey acknowledges that if she had just shot an average score in the final round she could have finished at the worst, second or third. Although she was extremely close to becoming a national champion in her sport, Stankey's current Rebel teammates know she benefitted from participating in the 2010 NCAA Championships.

"I think it was great for (Keely) to feel that kind of pressure and realize that it's possible to do that," teammate, junior Kim Coffey said. "It was a great experience for her and I think she's excited to try and get back to the NCAA's as a team this time instead of an individual."

LEADING BY EXAMPLE

Stankey whose teammates call her "Kiwi" said it would be nice to have another senior to exit the program with this spring but has accepted the role and responsibilities that come next to the title of being a senior.

"As a senior, I feel like if someone on the team has a bad day, my scores should be high enough to where it makes up for it," Stankey said.

Coffey said despite her teammate not being a vocal leader, Stankey's still viewed as an admirable leader by everyone on the team.

"Keely is kind of like a silent leader," Coffey said. "She's a little more calm and reserved but at the same time, she just has a presence where you respect everything she does and you always know she has the best intentions and is always looking out for the team. She's a really great teammate as well. If you ever have any questions you can always go to her and she's more than willing to help you out which is great, because she has so much knowledge and experience, so its always good that she's willing to share it with you."

Assistant coach Natasha Dinsmore added, "(Keely's) not someone who is going to give a team speech or a team cheer, but her leadership is shown through how hard she works and how focused she is when she's on the range."

Aside from shooting Stankey's leadership is recognized in the classroom. She currently holds a 3.6 cumulative GPA, earned a 4.0 during the spring semester and has been named to the SEC Winter Academic Honor Roll two times over the course of her career.

"(Keely's) someone you feed off of," Coffey said. "You feed off of her in a good way. When she's doing good, you're doing good."

MILESTONE PERFORMANCE

Earlier this month on Oct. 5, Stankey helped the Rebels rifle program accomplish a feat they'd never done before in the program's history.

Firing a team-high 581 in smallbore and a match-high 594 in air rifle, Stankey led the No. 8 Rebels to a classic upset win over No. 4 Alaska-Fairbanks. And as a team, the Rebels shot a school record 2347 in the air.

"That day it didn't even seem like a match to me because we usually have our matches on weekends and that match was on a Wednesday," Stankey said. "But I went out there and didn't think about it. I tried to focus and I definitely think it was one of my best days. It just showed what we're able to do as a team. Sometimes people underestimate us, but I think we're capable of putting up scores like that every time and better than that."

Stankey believed she was shooting well against Alaska but mentioned she never looks at her scores until the end of any match.

"That's the thing with Keely," Dinsmore said. "You never know. Keely could shoot a personal worst or shoot a personal best and she's so quiet. That's kind of what I love about her. She could shoot a 0 or shoot a 10.9 and she's just always composed, cool and collected. You tell her good job and she always says thank you and smiles even if she shot a personal worst."

RIFLING IN THE FUTURE?

While she hasn't completely ruled out continuing to shoot after her Ole Miss career ends, Stankey's top goal when she graduates in May appears to be to enroll in nursing school.

She's already applied to nursing programs at Florida State University, Missouri, University of Miami and the University of Minnesota.

She expects to hear back from the listed schools in February. Despite the fact that growing up she always had a dream of one day making the U.S. Olympic Rifle team, Stankey had to put her nursing career on hold so she could focus on shooting in college.

"I still enjoy rifling a lot," Stankey said. "It's just a lot of pressure and sometimes it can be stressful. I still enjoy it and would still like to shoot after college but I'm applying to accelerated nursing programs so I definitely wouldn't have time to shoot at least during that (one) year of nursing school. But we'll see what happens after that."

This past summer living back in Minneapolis, she gained valuable experience volunteering four days a week at the University of Minnesota's Medical Center as well as at a local Minneapolis children's hospital.

"Volunteering this summer taught me a lot about the nursing field in general and all the stuff the nurses have to put up with," Stankey said. "From working in a children's hospital, I learned I want to do pediatrics in the future."

LEAVING A LEGACY

Aside from shooting, Stankey an exercise science major, enjoys playing the piano, spending time with friends, watching movies (her favorite is Pearl Harbor) and listening to music by her favorite band Coldplay.

Her primary goal this season is to guide the Rebels to the NCAA Tournament. The Rebels rifle program only has one NCAA Tournament appearance, which came in 2006.

"She knows this is her last chance and final year to make a strong push and achieve everything she wants to achieve before she leaves," Boothe said. "I think she's really concentrating and focusing on getting this one, good last year in."

In the upcoming final matches of her remarkable career, Stankey's thought process heading into a match won't change. The night before a match, she begins mentally preparing and visualizing shooting 10's.

At the same time, she hopes to form a few more special memories before it's all completely over. Heading into this season her best memories were, breaking three school records last year, the team's trip to West Point in 2010 and being nominated last April for Women's Most Valuable Rebel at the first ever Rebels Choice Awards.

"She's been a record-setter," Boothe said. "She's set the tone and raised the bar. All of those things we can attribute to her, and help building our team to make it stronger. I think she's just going to lead a challenge to the next generation coming up to equal her success, if not surpass it."

It's clear and evident that nobody will replace Stankey and what she has meant to the Ole Miss rifle program.

As Dinsmore simply said, "Keely's like a quiet shining star and has been the anchor of our program for the last several years. We don't want to say goodbye."

This weekend, Stankey will look to embrace the opportunity and put on another record-breaking performance as she and the Rebels travel to Lexington to face 2011 NCAA Rifle Champion and current No. 1, Kentucky.

"It's all gone by so fast," Stankey said. "It seems like it was just my freshman year. I know its tough at times but I know when it ends, I'm definitely going to miss it. Its been like my identity for the past four years and its kind of like I'm losing that."

And while although she feels that once her collegiate rifling career concludes she will be losing an identity, one thing is certain. For Keely Stankey, creating a new identity will be an easy task. For when that time comes, instead of visualizing shooting a 10 she will visualize a journey. A journey, that appears to have endless potential and nothing but success along its path.

The University of Mississippi Athletics

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