FAIRBANKS – A day removed from their second-best score in program history, the Alaska Nanooks rifle team returned to the range and shot their new program-high with a 4734 against Ohio State at TVSA. The #3-ranked Nanooks defeated the Buckeyes, 4734-4691, moving to 2-0 in the early-season.
"Today was another phenomenal a performance for the team." Said head coach
Will Anti, "Smallbore was impressive – to average a 590 in smallbore is world class. The group had a tall task to try to better yesterday's performance, but they did so by quite a large margin. All of them are now firmly part of the program's history, setting all three records for air, smallbore and aggregate over the last two days."
Rylan Kissell led the way, once again, for the Nanooks, as the freshman from Denver, Colo. posted a career-high aggregate score of 1193. Sara Karasova and
Gavin Barnick joined Kissell in the top-three as Karasova posted an 1185-aggregate and Barnick fired off an 1180.
Kellen McAferty was the final 'Nook in the top-five with an 1174.
Daniel Enger and
Jessica Boyce were the final Nanooks to shoot into the top-10 individual results with an 1172 and seventh-place finish for Enger and an 1159 and ninth-place finish for Boyce.
In smallbore, the Nanooks posted a program-record in the discipline and fell short of the NCAA Record of 2361, by one. The Nanooks 2360 is the second-best smallbore score in NCAA history. Kissell led the way in smallbore, shooting an impressive 596, tying Matt Wallace and Matt Rawlings for the program-record. Following him, again in second-third, was Karasova and Barnick. Karasova shot off a 590 while Barnick added a 589.
Kellen McAferty offered a 585, rounding out the top-five scores. In air, the Nanooks shot a 2374 while OSU posted a 2363.
Kissell followed up his 599 from a day-ago with a 597, leading the air rifle standings. Karasova followed close behind with a 595. Ohio State took places four and five with Barnick taking fifth with a score of 591. Enger was just outside of the top-five, in sixth, with a score of 591.
"Rylan led the group today in both guns – he is still improving daily. It's fun to see someone at that level consistently come off the line with something they want to work on. Sara had a brilliant day as well. Both of them and several others hit some early stumbling blocks in air but they were really positive and resilient and powered through the second half of the match to post a great result."
The Nanooks will have 12 days off before their next match on Oct. 28 at Georgia Southern in Statesboro, Geo. Following Georgia Southern, the Nanooks will head to the Citadel on Oct. 30-31.
For more information on the Alaska Nanooks rifle team, follow @NanooksRifle on Twitter or Instagram, or like the Alaska Nanooks Rifle team page on Facebook.
