FAIRBANKS, Alaska -- The No. 5-ranked Alaska Nanooks rifle team will be in action at the E.F. Horton Rifle Range for the final time this weekend, as they host No. 13-ranked Nevada and No. 17-ranked UTEP.
The Nanooks will conclude the regular season on Thursday with a match against the Wolfpack and Miners, before challenging them again on Saturday for the NCAA Qualifying Meet on Saturday. Both meets are scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. AKT.
Alaska looks to punch its ticket into the 2016 NCAA National Championship on Saturday, as they'll play host to one of the several NCAA Qualifying matches this weekend. Head coach Dan Jordan hopes that both of this week's matches will help provide his squad with confidence going into the NCAA Championships, which will be held at the University of Akron on March 11 and 12.
"This week is about building confidence and fine tuning a few things," stated Jordan. "We need to have everyone clicking on the same day. Our goal for this week is to have people level out and be more consistent, while also building some confidence heading into the NCAA Championship."
The No. 5-ranked Nooks are in great shape to make another appearance at the NCAA Championships. Only eight teams will make the trek to Akron, as the process to qualify goes as follows.
Every team in the nation averages out their top three aggregated scores of the 2015-16 regular season, and that score is added up with to the total that the team gets at the qualifying match. Once scores are compiled together, the top eight teams move on to the NCAA Championships.
Alaska, who is currently the No. 5-ranked team in nation, has one more chance to improve on their top three scores, as they'll host the final regular season match of the year against Nevada and UTEP. As of this release, the Nanooks top three scores are 4,711 (vs. Air Force), 4,697 (at West Virginia) and 4,694 (vs. Ohio State).
The Nanooks are coming off a second-place finish at the 2016 Patriot Rifle Conference Championships in Fort Worth, Texas. Alaska came up just two points short of a three-peat at the PRC Championships, as host school, and third-ranked, TCU captured first place. Redshirt sophomore Sagen Maddalena placed second overall with an aggregated score of 1,175, while senior All-American Tim Sherry placed fifth with a 1,171. Sophomore Luke Johnson took the silver medal in the air gun in Fort Worth.
Coach Jordan looks for Maddalena and Sherry to once again pace the Nanooks this week, but he looks for the rest of his roster to step up and make a statement in their final two meets at home.
"Tim and Sagen have been super consistent and super strong throughout the year. We have four more shooters who have been doing well all season. Soren Butler has been shooting really well. Luke has performed well for us in big meets. We have two people who are really battling for that last spot on the Championship roster in J.T. Schnering and Jaimie Barnes. Between those six, we have a solid group and it's going to be a tough decision on who to taken to Akron, but it's a decision that will have to be made this weekend."
For more information on the Alaska Nanooks rifle team, follow @NanooksRifle on Twitter or like Alaska Nanooks Rifle on Facebook.
