LEXINGTON, KY - The Alaska Nanooks dropped just their second match of the season, falling on the road in their first competition of 2011 to the Kentucky Wildcats 4,668-4,650 Wednesday afternoon.
"We knew UK would be a tough match this year as they have been shooting some very good scores this year," said head coach
Dan Jordan. "By the end of the first part of the match that proved to be true and we ended up tied after smallbore at 2,320."
Sophomore
Cole Bures stepped up and led the Blue and Gold with a 584, tying UK's Heather Greathouse for the best score. He was followed by senior
Cody Rutter with a 582, freshman
Mike Liuzza wth a 578 and sophomore
Aaron Holsopple with a 576.
Alaska's other shooters in the day's match were rookie
Scott Franz (575), sophomore
Anna Hjelmevoll (573) and senior
Taylor Beard (573).
The team, which met on the road on Monday (17th) and headed to Lexington Tuesday, had just one practice session prior to Wednesday's match to work out any cobwebs that might have been lingering from the long semester break.
"Everyone had been training over the break, but it was nice to have a practice all together," Jordan said.
It wasn't enough though as UK's air rifle team proved too strong. The Wildcats were led by Henri Junghenal at 596: the only shooter to break 590 over the course of the day. Hjelmevoll led the way for Alaska with a 585 followed by Bures at 582, Franz at 582, and Rutter at 581.
Rounding out Alaska's shooters were Beard at 579, Liuzza at 577 and Holsopple at 574. The Wildcats outgunned the Nanooks 2,348-2,330.
Jordan and the Nanooks are working to beat the poor weather conditions lingering in the southeastern United States to their next destination. Thursday they travel to West Virginia, where they will have a practice day on Friday and match on Saturday against the Mountaineers.
