Post-Match Interviews
FAIRBANKS, Alaska – The third-ranked Alaska rifle team opened its season Sunday with a convincing victory against the Alumni, 4683-4594, at the E.F. Horton Rifle Range.
The Nanooks turned in a 2356 in the air rifle discipline and a 2327 in smallbore while the Alumni accrued scores of 2328 and 2266. Alaska's cumulative score of 4683 was four points higher than West Virginia's total (4679) when it won the 2013 NCAA Championship last March.
Former Nanook and 2012 Olympic gold medalist
Jamie (Beyerle) Gray bested the field in the air rifle competition as she fired a 592 in her first competition since winning gold in London more than a year ago.
Inducted into the Nanook Hall of Fame Saturday, Gray won the tiebreaker against senior
Mike Liuzza (New Orleans, La./Business Administration) and junior
Ryan Anderson (Great Falls, Va./Biological Sciences) on center shots as Gray had 47 X's (10.2 or higher) while Liuzza and Anderson had 46 and 42, respectively.
Sophomores
Tim Sherry (Highlands Ranch, Colo./Mechanical Engineering) and
Lorelie Stanfield (Fairbanks, Alaska/English) each tallied 586 while junior
Mats Eriksson (Malung, Sweden/Business Administration) added a 579.
On the smallbore side, Sherry led the Nanooks with a 584, edging Anderson, who had a 582. Both shooters, however, turned in a perfect 200 in the prone position. Rookie
Dan Geer (Colorado Springs, Colo./Business Administration) debuted with a 581 and Liuzza had a 580 while Eriksson added a 575.
For the Alumni,
Matthew Wallace led the group of former 'Nooks with a 579 in smallbore and was second on the team behind Gray with a 580 in air rifle. Other competing alumnae in the match were
Cole Bures,
Layne Lewis and
Ida Peterson.
Following the actual match, both the current and former Nanooks exited the range and came upstairs to the Patty Center gymnasium where they competed in a 20-shot mini-match, as well as an individual final.
In the 20-shot air gun match, Sherry shot a 196 out of a possible 200, hitting the center of the target on nine of his final 10 shots to win it by a point over Anderson and alums Wallace and Bures.
Sherry kept the momentum going into the individual final competition, as he stormed his way to the top in the eight-shooter event. Sartz was runner up, Anderson was third and Wallace took fourth.
The Nanooks return to action Oct. 12 when they face North Carolina State at the Horton Rifle Range. The following day, they shoot against Ole Miss to round out the weekend. Both the Wolfpack and Rebels will compete in a neutral-site match on the range on Oct. 11.
