Alaskan Heritage Guides UK Rifle Senior Papasodora

While some college students might not be aware of their ancestry or lineage, Kentucky rifle senior Cathryn Papasodora is exactly the opposite. The Eagle River, Alaska, native is guided by a distinct set of principles, each of which come from her heritage, something in which she takes great pride.

“I am half-Upper Tanana Athabaskan, that’s an interior Alaska native,” Papasodora said. “My mom grew up in a little village called Northway. I grew up with Alaska native culture. (It is) very, very huge and very much a part of my life. I learned a lot.”

For Papasodora, it’s much more than just being a native of Alaska.

“It’s very much a part of who I am,” Papasodora said. “My mom did a very good job of raising me and combining our cultural values with our everyday life. I’m constantly revisiting it.”

And while many college students might stray from their roots or their heritage in college, Papasodora is actually embracing hers, getting more involved in the ways of her ancestors.

“Athabaskan is split up into 11 different tribes, and there are 11 different dialects and I’m learning the language right now,” she said. “For my upcoming graduation, we’re going to be making a traditional regalia dress, so I’ll be wearing that, which will be good.”

Papasodora’s parents encouraged her to get outside and explore when she was younger, a move that might have directly led to her ending up at Kentucky.

“I grew up with no electronics, but my mom and dad would take us out on hikes,” she said. “I was always pushed to do new things, to go outside. It was very open for exploring and without that, I’m not sure I would have ended up here.”

How she ended up here is a bit of an adventure of its own, one that Papasodora did not see coming.

“I started shooting my freshman year in high school,” she said. “I started going to national meets, and that’s when I ran into (UK head coach) Harry (Mullins). Of course, we couldn’t talk. I didn’t know he was watching me until my senior year and we started talking and he brought up some of my matches from my sophomore year in high school. He had watched me throughout the years.”

But going to school in Kentucky, nearly 4,000 miles from home, would still seem to be a daunting task. However, Papasodora was not intimidated.

“I’m also huge for adventure, so I talked to my parents and I was really impressed by Harry and I came down for an official visit and after three hours, I was convinced that this is where I wanted to go to school,” she said. “It’s definitely become my second home.”

Papasodora has a take-charge attitude, which can also be attributed to her culture.

“My culture is matrilineal, so everything, including my last name, is from my mother,” Papasodora said. “It goes up my entire matrilineal line. I actually have a clan, which is Wolf over Raven. The only reason there is another animal involved is that my great-ancestor was a chieftain and so his was the Raven and my grandmother’s was the Wolf, so his subsects underneath of hers. Because of that, Harry likes to refer to me as an alpha female because I am quite blunt, that’s also a part of my culture, which I’ve had to be careful with. I like to take charge of things, I’m very much a leader. He often calls me grizzly bear or polar bear.”

So how does her heritage help Papasodora when she’s competing? Mullins knows it starts from within.

“She comes from an atmosphere where the focus on the underlying principles are always there,” Mullins said. “Her heritage is a big part of that, making decisions based on those principles.”

As a junior last season, Papasodora was a big part of Kentucky winning the 2018 National Rifle Championship, although she was a bit surprised by the result, even after it happened.

“I came off the line, and I actually thought we didn’t (win),” she said. “I got selected for gear check right after we shot and my coach escorted me and I asked him ‘how’d we do’ and he just looked at me. And it just hit me all in that moment. It’s just this huge, overwhelming thing that we actually did it. I was taken aback, it was a really, really nice surprise. It was gratifying for all of the work we’ve put in.”

Now, the challenge for Papasodora and the Wildcats is to defend that national championship. But the senior says it’s not about the opponent, it’s just about themselves.

“This year, we are focused on doing us and really instilling that culture that we created last year,” she said. “A lot of it isn’t focused on score, it’s focused on performance and maintaining that performance. If you have that consistency, good things are going to come out of it.”

While Papasodora’s journey as a collegiate student-athlete will end this season, her quest to embrace her Alaskan heritage will continue for many years to come.