Nov. 17, 2006
Results
By Bob Eley, Sports Writer, Fairbanks Daily News-Miner
Published November 17, 2006
Posted in Sports
A strong effort in air gun propelled the Alaska Nanooks rifle team to its fifth straight win of the season on Tuesday at the University of Kentucky in Lexington.
The Nanooks won the air rifle competition by a 15-point margin in claiming a 4,689 to 4,680 victory over the Wildcats. It was the best overall score of the season for the defending NCAA champion Nanooks.
"That was by far our season high," second-year coach Dan Jordan said on Thursday evening. "We had a big discussion about our scores and our expectations for the season and how they needed to pull their act together, so they went out and did a good job today."
The Nanooks won the air gun portion of the match by a score of 2,366 to 2,351 as all four Nanooks posted score of 588 out of 600 or better.
Senior Matthias Dierolf of Germany led the way for the Nanooks with a match-high score of 597. Senior Matt Rawlings of Wharton, Texas, registered a 592, while freshman Patrik Sartz of Sweden posted a 589 and senior Christian Lejon of Sweden checked in with a 588.
The Nanooks also shot well in the smallbore match, but Kentucky won that event 2,329 to 2,323.
Lejon posted the top score for the Nanooks with a 584, followed by Dierolf with a 583, Rawlings with a 580 and Sartz with a 576. Kentucky's Tom Csenge posted the top smallbore score of the day with a 588.
Jordan said that Kentucky will be one of the Nanooks biggest challengers at the NCAA Championships this season. Alaska, Kentucky and Army are the only schools that have posted scores of 5,680 or better.
"Kentucky shot very well today and they're going to be a tough team to beat this season," Jordan said. "They have two freshman who are shooting very well right now."
Alaska freshmen Jace Bures of Odell, Neb., and Billy Galligan of Fairbanks also shot well on Thursday, although their scores did not count in the team match.
Bures notched a 584 in air rifle and a 581 in smallbore, while Galligan registered a 579 air rifle and 569 in smallbore.
The Nanooks conclude their four-match road trip on Saturday at the University of Texas-El Paso. The Nanooks opened the trip by defeating Jacksonville State on Sunday and followed that up with a win at Murray State on Thursday.
