University of Alaska Fairbanks Athletics

Alaska's Rifle Dynasty

In the past 20 years, the defending NCAA champion Alaska Nanook rifle team has established itself as the premier program in the nation. During that span the Nanooks finished as the NCAA National Champions ten times or runner-up four times.

After finishing as runner-up for three straight years, Alaska finally found the top spot in 1994. Alaska's excellence picked up in the late '90s and the Nanooks have won nine of the last 11 NCAA rifle titles since 1999. That stretch included a record-tying six straight from 1999-2004, matching the mark set by West Virginia in the late '80s and early '90s.

Any great team is made up of great individual performers and the Nanooks have had eight shooters win a total of 15 individual National Championships since 1988. In that same span, 57 Alaska competitors have earned a total of 175 All-America honors.

Amongst the many standout performers, four-time NCAA individual champion Matt Emmons is arguably the finest shooter in Alaska history. Emmons took home first-team NCAA All-America honors in both the smallbore and the air rifle all four years in Fairbanks. He also holds the team's individual records for both the small bore and air rifle. After leading the Nanooks to four straight team titles, Emmons went on to win a gold medal in the 50 meter prone event at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. In September of 2008, Emmons was inducted into the Nanook Hall of Fame as one of four inductees in the inaugural class.

While rifle has only been an NCAA sport since 1980, the Nanooks have had a rifle team since 1937, making it one of the universities oldest sports. Prior to competing through the NCAA, the Nanook women won six National Rifle Association national championships in the '60s. The team also produced 15 All-Americans from 1961-1970 including two-time national champion Stu Watkins and future head coach Randy Pitney, who later led the Nanooks to three NCAA titles including their first in 1994. Pitney also joined Emmons in the Nanook Hall of Fame's Class of 2008.

The Nanooks added to their championship lineage in 2007, winning the crown, but for the first time ever it was on their own turf. The Nanooks played host to the NCAA Rifle Championships March 8-10 at the E.F. Horton Rifle Range and the Patty Center in front of a record-crowd of almost 1,000 fans. Alaska's then-Governor Sarah Palin was on location in Fairbanks to help handout the hardware and crown the home-town hero Nanooks the 2007 NCAA Champs.

Many team members graduated in 2007, leaving a young team behind. However, the young Nanooks lived up to the rifle dynasty once again and won another NCAA Championship in 2008. With three freshmen and three sophmores, the new champs shot the same score as the 2007 National Championship Nanook team.

In September of 2009, three Alaska rifle greats (two former student-athletes and a former coach) were inducted into the 2009 Nanook Hall of Fame. Everad F. Horton, Carole Warner, and Joe Nava were selected as members of the Nanook Hall of Fame's second class.

NCAA Team Championships
1994, 1999-2004, 2006, 2007, & 2008

NCAA Individual Championships
1989: Debra Sinclair (Smallbore)
1994: Cory Brunetti (Smallbore)
1995: Oleg Seleznev (Smallbore)
1999: Kelly Mansfiled (Smallbore & Air Rifle)
2000: Kelly Mansfield (Air Rifle)
2001: Matt Emmons (Smallbore & Air Rifle)
2002: Matt Emmons (Smallbore)
2003: Matt Emmons (Smallbore) & Jamie Beyerle (Air Rifle)
2004: Matt Rawlings (Smallbore)
2005: Matt Rawlings (Smallbore)
2006: Jamie Beyerle (Smallbore)
2008: Patrik Sartz (Air Rifle)