ELEANOR - Noah Barker doesn't mind being a rarity. In fact, he couldn't be happier about it.
West Virginia's powerhouse rifle team has attracted elite shooters from every corner of the United States and several European countries, but only a tiny handful of its members have hailed from the Mountain State. When the university's fall semester begins on Aug. 17, Barker will become one of those rare exceptions.
"Coach [Jon] Hammond asked me if I would like to join the team as an invited walk-on," said Barker, who graduated from Winfield High School on June 2. "Of course I was happy to do that."
Becoming a part of the Mountaineers' legendary program is a dream come true for the 19-year-old Red House resident.
"I had always hoped to shoot for a college team somewhere, but I had no idea where I might end up," he said. "WVU represents the highest standard of excellence in a rifle program. To be on that team is a true honor."
Success in the shooting-sports world came rather quickly to Barker, who first picked up a target rifle when he was a seventh-grader.
"My dad saw an article in the newspaper about the Putnam County Gun Club's Junior Smallbore Camp," he recalled. "I came to the camp and fell in love with shooting."
Barker started like all the other campers - shooting from the prone position with his rifle supported and steadied by sandbags. After the camp, he joined the gun club's Junior Smallbore Team and started practicing.
"I spent a lot of time practicing and competing," he said. "After I started shooting well enough from the prone position, [Coach] Bill [Shank] decided I was ready to start shooting [three-position]. So I started working at that."
Taking up three-position shooting was important to Barker's future because that's how collegiate teams compete. Half of each collegiate match consists of shooting .22-caliber rifles from prone, kneeling and standing positions; the other half consists of shooting air rifles from the standing position.
Barker spent countless hours at the range honing his three-position form and his technique.
"It was a rapid progression from there. I pretty much took the fast track," he said.
Before he knew it, he found himself accompanying his teammates to state, regional and national competitions, including the National Matches at Camp Perry, Ohio. At those competitions, he met and got to know Hammond, who in 10 years at WVU has led the Mountaineers to five NCAA titles.
"I think Coach Hammond saw my drive and willingness to work," Barker said. "One thing led to another, and he ended up offering me a walk-on position on the team. My first year will officially be a redshirt season. I'll practice and work out every day with the team, but I won't be competing.
"I think that will help my shooting a lot. I'll have time to get used to the intensity of the practices, the workouts and the academic demands without the added pressure of competition. This first year will be all about getting better so I can compete later on."
Some of Barker's future teammates have won NCAA team titles, NCAA individual titles and have competed in the Olympics.
"Being around high-class athletes like that will help," he said. "I know I'll learn a lot just from practicing with them and hanging out with them."
Barker has known the Mountaineers' most celebrated shooter, Ginny Thrasher, for years.
"We met at Camp Perry, and we've always kind of shot against one another. It's been kind of a game between us," he said.
Thrasher, now a sophomore at WVU, took the world of collegiate shooting by storm earlier this year. She captured NCAA individual championships in smallbore and air rifle and led the Mountaineers to their fourth consecutive national title, and followed that performance by earning a spot on the U.S. Olympic Team.
Last fall, before she accomplished any of that, Thrasher hosted Barker on his official visit to WVU.
"I'm going to major in mining engineering, and Ginny is an engineering major, so she showed me around the campus and had me go with her to some of her classes," he recalled.
Barker has already received his class schedule for the fall semester.
"My classes will run from 8:30 in the morning to 1:00 or 2:00 in the afternoon, and then it's off to practice," he said. "In addition to the shooting, there will be a lot of cardio work and weightlifting."
He looks forward to the challenge, if for no other reason to honor his friends and coaches on the Junior Smallbore Team.
"There's no way I could have [made the WVU team] without them," he said. "The coaching I received there, the practice and the competition with my teammates are what made this all possible."
Reach John McCoy at johnmccoy@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-1231 or follow @GazMailOutdoors on Twitter.