Jan. 22, 2008
Alaska at Army Match Results 
Fairbanks Daily News-Miner
Staff report
WEST PONT, N.Y.-The defending NCAA champion Alaska Nanooks showed they will be a force to be reckoned with again this year when they downed the U.S. Military Academy by 13 points on Tuesday in West Point, N.Y.
Shooting at the site of the 2008 NCAA Championships, the Nanooks put up the highest score by any college team this season when they knocked off the Black Knights by a 4,688-4,675 score.
"The team shot like a house of fire today," Nanooks coach Dan Jordan said via e-mail. "Shooting against Army seems to bring out the best in both teams."
It certainly brought out the best for several Nanooks as Christofer Olofsson registered a season-high in air rifle (597), while Patrik Sartz (586) and Olofsson (585) had their best smallbore scores of the year.
Freshman Cody Rutter had another outstanding performance, posting a 591 in air rifle and a 581 in smallbore.
"He shot amazingly well for a freshman and really stepped up to shoot well for the team," Jordan said. "He has an intense desire to compete and he's got the confidence now after the couple of matches."
In addition to Sartz, Olofsson and Rutter, the Nanooks other smallbore scores on the day were Taylor Beard and Jace Bures at 579, Layne Lewis with a 575, Billy Galligan with a 574 and Ida Petersen with a 571.
"The whole team was over 570 in smallbore, which is amazing to have that much depth," Jordan said.
Other air rifle scores included a 594 by Sartz, a 588 by Beard, a 585 by Galligan, a 581 by Petersen, a 577 by Lewis and a 576 by Lewis. Jordan said Tuesday's win was one of the highlights of his coaching career, which is now in its third season.
"I told the team that I think that this is my best win as a coach outside of winning the (NCAA) championships at home last year," Jordan said. "I have been waiting for them to put up some big scores this year and this was the perfect time to do it.
"This win gives them a ton of confidence going into the next two months," Jordan added. "To beat Army, who was ranked No. 1 so far this season, and to do it by 13 points is huge."
The Nanooks (6-1), who have been battling illness during their trip to the East Coast, will close out the four-match junket at Navy on Thursday in Annapolis, Md.
