Results

U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. – The Alaska Nanooks rifle team took third overall in the Patriot Rifle Conference Championships this weekend at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado. The Patriot Rifle Conference is comprised of six teams, five of which are in currently in the top 10 for NCAA rifle.

The two-day competition comprised of one day of smallbore and one day of air rifle, with both days ending with an individual final for the top eight shooters in each discipline

On the first day of competition, teams fired the smallbore portion of the championship. Co-captain, Sagen Maddalena led the Nanooks with a 584, which also put her in a three-way tie for first.  Senior, Luke Johnson followed Maddalena with a 575. Which placed him in 12th. Rounding out the scoring team for the Nanooks were juniors, J.T. Schnering (574) and Robert Scott (567) and sophomore Amy Gentry (566). Maddalena was the lone Nanook in the smallbore final and ended with a solid 5th place finish in the head-to-head elimination-style final. The team came out in third place after day one with a team aggregate of 2300

The second day comprised of the air rifle competition. The Nanooks had a strong air rifle showing, with three Nanooks being above the 590-mark. Maddalena lead the Nanooks on day two with an impressive 598, placing her 1st in the preliminary competition. Johnson placed 4th in the preliminary results with a 595 and Schnering placed 13th with a 590. Gentry and Scott both fired 584's on day two. Both Johnson and Maddalena qualified for the elimination style final. Maddalena ended in 6^th place while Johnson captured bronze. The Nanooks took silver in air rifle (2367), just 10 points behind Texas Christian University.

Head Coach, Layne Lewis commented, "Team did well again today. Both seniors, Sagen and Luke, qualified for the air rifle final. Sagen finished 6th, Luke took bronze. The team finished 3rd overall, aid force got us by 3 points. It was a very close match with all the teams shooting well."

The No. 5 Nanooks ended the weekend placing third overall in the aggregate competition with a 4667. No. 2 Texas Christian University took gold shooting a 4697 and No. 7 Air Force took silver, only leading the Nanooks by three points with a 4670.

Both of the Nanook seniors rounded out their last conference championship with top-10 finishes. Sagen Maddalena fired an aggregate score of 1182, which earned her the top aggregate spot of the match. Johnson fired an 1170, placing him in 6th. Maddalena and Johnson also earned All-Conference honors.

The Nanooks will be back in action with their last home match of the season against The University of Alabama at Birmingham on Saturday, February 17th at 9:00am at the E.F. Horton Rifle Range.

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