Jan. 16, 2007
Complete Results
WEST POINT, NY - The Alaska Nanooks rifle team continued its defense of the national crown, remaining unbeaten this season and shooting their season match-high with a road victory against Army Tuesday, outshooting the Black Nights 4,692-4,681.
Senior Mattias Dierolf (Uttenhofen, Germany) led the air rifle with a 593, hitting three perfect bull's-eye shots. Three shooters trailed Dierolf by just a point, as the Nanooks' senior Matt Rawlings (Wharton, TX) and freshman Patrik Sartz (Stora Sundby, Sweden) and the Black Nights' John Fiddes all shot a 592. Senior Christian Lejon (Umea, Sweden) rounded out Alaska's team effort with a 591.
"Things went really well today," said head coach Dan Jordan. "Both schools shot season highs. The team shot really well in air rifle - our four team members as well as Becky and Kim."
Senior Kim Harris (Fairbanks, AK) actually outshot Sartz in the smallbore with a 577, but she was not in the starting lineup so her performance didn't contribute to Alaska's overall score against Army.
Dierolf and Lejon shared the team and match-high score in the smallbore each shooting a 587. Rawlings and Sartz shot 579 and 571 respectively.
Harris also tied teammate and freshman Becky Hershberger (Bedford, PA) in the air gun discipline, each posting a 587.
According to Jordan, whose team is a perfect 8-0 this season and 20-0 since he took over the program two years ago, Army became the only other team to break 4680 this season on the new smallbore targets that collegiate rifle switched to this year. He also noted they were considerably more difficult to shoot at than the targets used last season.
"Smallbore for us was a little weak, especially the prone scores," said Jordan, "but we shot on electronic targets today, the same type that we will be getting on our range so things look good.
The Nanooks, who are the official hosts of the 2007 NCAA Men's and Women's Rifle Championships, are awaiting the arrival of their new electronic targets. The new targets are a part of some upgrades being made to their home range, the E.F. Horton rifle range located in the Patty Center on the University of Alaska Fairbanks campus.
Alaska continues on the road at Philadelphia Sciences and Navy Thursday and Friday, respectively, before returning to Fairbanks. Following this road-trip, the Nanooks will have almost three weeks without competition to train before their next home match, when they host the University of Missouri-Kansas City in the NCAA Sectionals, February 9-10, and the 2007 NCAA Men's and Women's Rifle Championships, March 9-10.
