On Target with Freshman Aron Tinter

The 2018-19 NC State rifle season has started on a strong note under first-year head coach Emily Holsopple, as the Wolfpack is ranked No. 8 in this week's College Rifle Coaches Association (CRCA) Poll.

NC State opened the year with its second-highest score in a season opener in program history at The Citadel and followed that performance with a victory against No. 10 Akron last weekend in the Great America Rifle Conference (GARC) opener.

This year's squad features two freshmen and GoPack.com recently caught up with Aron Tinter, a native of Arlington, Va., for a brief Q&A. He made his collegiate debut in the lineup for the Wolfpack last weekend and fired a score of 587 in the air rifle competition.

How much have you enjoyed being at NC State so far?
"I've enjoyed NC State a lot. I've really been enjoying with the team and I joined the team because I heard that they're like a family, and that's been 100% true. I couldn't have asked for anything better, so I've really been enjoying my time here at NC State. And of course the academics here seem to be fantastic. I can't really say for sure because I'm a freshman and I haven't completed my first semester, but so far all of my teachers are really great and I'm doing really well in all of my classes, so I really love it here."

What made you commit to NC State?
"I was looking of course at a few other schools, but I came here on an unofficial visit to meet the coach and introduce myself. One of the seniors graduating gave me a tour. Hearing her talk about her time here, how much she loved it and how much she loved the team and how much of a family they were. It really won me over. What I think also helped is she also used to be on the same junior team that I was on. I joined the year after she left that team because she was too old for it, and was moving onto NC State. She was able to relate it back to the current team that I was on which I really liked, and I just fell in love with the team from there."

How did you get into shooting competitively?
"When I was really young my dad had these twenty-two rifles, non-precision. Of course since I was in elementary school I kept begging my dad if I could shoot them because I thought it was really cool. Eventually he let me start shooting, and he figured if he had them in the house that I should learn how to use and handle them properly. Then after that my dad's boss got my dad into another shooting sport called USGSA. Which is basically you run a course and fire a handgun as fast and accurate as possible. My dad got me into that because I went to a few matches and watched him shoot. So that's kind of how I got into shooting sports. My sister had actually shot on my high school rifle team, so that's how I knew about precision rifle. When I went to high school I decided that I want to shoot because I like shooting, so I'm going to go into precision rifle. Then from there my scores increased, and so did my competitive drive and my love for this sport. I started to realize I was a lot better than I thought I was and I saw myself grow. I realized I could beat people."

What's your favorite spot on campus?
"That's hard. I guess Talley because that's where I'm going a lot for my food. I'd have to say either the student union or Case because I get food at both of those places. I'm a pretty food motivated guy; I like food."

What was the first thing you owned that had NC State on it?
"It was a Wolfpack rifle shirt that I purchased from the bookstore on my second visit to campus."

Quick Hits

What's your favorite food?
"That's kind of hard. I'm going to say tuna. There doesn't seem to be a way you can cook it that I won't like it. You can sear it or make I think it's called an ahi where you sear the outside and leave the middle raw and I love that. I love it on sashimi or sushi so just flat out raw. I love it cooked so I'm going to say tuna because I just love tuna."

What's your favorite movie?
"There's two: In animation it has to be Princess Mononoke. Which I consider a classic. In terms of live action I believe its called Hacksaw Ridge I think. The one with the dude who was in World War II, the medic, who never shot a bullet. I thought that was a really good movie. That just barely beat out Saving Private Ryan."

What's your favorite TV show?
"I haven't been watching too much tv because I tend to play more games because I like how interactive they are. I'm watching a show called Designated Survivor, which is a political drama that's actually pretty good."

What's your favorite midnight snack?
"I'm going to say goldfish. It's my favorite snack in general, but if I have some goldfish, I just chow down on those when I wake up in the middle of the night."

What's your favorite cereal?
"Honey Nut Cheerios."

What's your dream job?
"I want to work at the Center for Disease Control (CDC) right now. I want to work with diseases, that's why I'm deciding to take microbiology as my major. I'm kind of still not entirely sure on that, that's just kind of what I said as my general path idea so I have a general point of reference. I know for a fact though that it will be something to do with biology mainly in the micro level with inferior cells. I have always found that whole realm just extremely fascinating."

What's something you couldn't imagine going a week without?
"Definitely my phone because I do so much stuff on my phone. Whether its checking my email to make sure I'm on top of everything or going on Instagram to check up on my friends to see what they're doing or to just look at memes and what not. I would definitely need my phone for an entire week to function properly."

What's on your bucket list?
"A fair amount of stuff. Most of it is actually fishing related because I'm a big fisherman. I see a lot that I want to catch. I was recently able to cross off catching a cobia on my list which was great, they're such a fun fish to fight. It would probably be flying down to the Florida Keys and fly-fishing for carp."

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