Results

U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. – The Alaska Nanooks coed rifle team currently sits in third place following the opening day of the Patriot Rifle Conference Championships hosted by the U.S. Air Force Academy. The Nanooks combined for a team smallbore score of 2300 on Saturday morning and will compete in air rifle tomorrow.

"Day one of the PRC Championships is in the books and we're sitting in a good third-place spot," head coach Layne Lewis said on Saturday. "The performances in smallbore were much better today than yesterday and overall, it was a good match with everyone shooting well. We're ready for a full day of air rifle tomorrow."

The No. 2 ranked Texas Christian University rifle team takes a lead going into Sunday's competition, as the Horned Frogs posted a 2320 in smallbore, led by Ariana Grabowski, who shot a 584. The No. 7 Air Force Falcons currently sit in second place with a team smallbore score of 2309, led by Logan Ogden and Anna Weilbacher, who tied for a team-best 583.

Following Alaska, No. 6 Ohio State ranks fourth (2299) while No. 6 Ohio State (2299) and No. 20 University of Texas at El Paso (2249) round out the remaining conference teams.

Redshirt-senior Sagen Maddalena shot a team-best 584 in smallbore to be put into a three-way tie as the top individual smallbore shooter on the day. TCU's Grabowski and Nevada's Mitchell Van Patten also shot a 584 in Saturday's conference championships.

Maddalena was one of eight shooters to move onto the finals, eventually placing fifth in the head-to-head elimination round.

Senior Luke Johnson was the second-highest scoring Nanook on Saturday, collecting a 575. Junior JT Schnering followed closely behind with a 574 to rank third amongst his teammates, while junior Robert Scott (567) and sophomore Amy Gentry (566) rounded-out the remaining Alaska scorers.

The Patriot Rifle Conference Championships continue tomorrow with the air rifle discipline at 6am AKST. The team and individual air rifle conference championship titles will be handed out tomorrow, as well as the team PRC Championship title (smallbore and air rifle combined).

For more information on the Alaska Nanooks rifle team, follow @NanooksRifle on Twitter or like the Alaska Nanooks Rifle team page on Facebook.