It was ironic, and it made Lisa Rouse smile.

“I was the kind of mom that wouldn’t let her kids even have a squirt gun,” she said.

Those comments came moments after her daughter, Mara Rouse, signed a letter of intent, accepting a full-ride scholarship to the University of Texas at El Paso to compete for the Miners’ rifle team.

“When she came home as a sophomore and told us she was joining the NJROTC rifle team, we thought she meant the armed drill team,” Lisa Rouse said. “Little did we know she would be shooting guns.”

And Mara did shoot — very straight.

In three years Mara Rouse, now a senior, has developed into an elite shooter, competing for the Wildcats’ NJROTC rifle team, the local S-Cubed club team and the West Seattle Totems. Along the way Rouse amassed numerous awards at state, regional and national competitions. She parlayed those accomplishments into a college scholarship.

“It (getting a scholarship) was my goal,” Mara Rouse said. “I really got serious my junior year. They said it was hard to become a collegiate shooter. I don’t like it when someone tells me I can’t do something.”

Her high school coach, Dave Goodman, echoed that last statement: “She is strong headed. If you don’t agree with her, it is going to be a battle of the titans.”

Her father, Jeramy Rouse, added, “Everything she does, she does 100 percent.”

Mara Rouse received more motivation in her quest for a scholarship when she competed in the U.S. Open at Fort Benning in Georgia last year.

“I was awakened by the sense of shooting,” she said. “I was competing against collegians and Olympians — I was there — and it was motivating.”

Rouse also considered the University of Nevada and Ohio State University (which she was “in love with”) until UTEP came calling.

She was impressed by how the UTEP coaching staff emphasized academics and the student portion of the student-athlete equation.

“They are dedicated to their students,” she said.

She also likes the support the school supplies for its female athletes.

Being in a location warmer than Whidbey Island is another plus, she said.

Chief William Thiel, one of the OHHS NJROTC instructors, said Rouse is the first from the shooting program to receive a four-year scholarship to an NCAA school.

“Having one our own shooters get a full-ride scholarship is quite an accomplishment,” he said.

“Each one brings something different to the fight,” Goodman said. “Mara put her own stamp on the team, then we handed her off to the West Seattle Totems, an Olympic feeder program, to give her the opportunity to go to the next level.”

At what level she peaks remains to be seen. Hopefully she won’t be thwarted in her ascension because mom wouldn’t let her have a squirt gun.

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Mara Rouse is joined, from left, by Ian Gehrmann, assistant OHHS rifle coach; Mike Huck, West Seattle coach; Chief Bill Thiel, OHHS NJROTC instructor; and Dave Goodman, OHHS rifle coach. Photo by Sarah Goodman.