CAMP PERRY, Ohio – The Nanooks rifle team was well represented at the USA Shooting Winter Airgun National Championships over the past weekend. 
 
"This was a really enjoyable match that provided some great feedback and affirmation for both athletes." Said head coach Will Anti, "These were three of Rylan's highest decimal match performances so far. He hasn't had a ton of decimal match opportunities and he has been working hard to improve how he approaches these non-collegiate matches. It definitely is a different mindset from a standard collegiate match and I think in many ways all the performances, and Day 3 in particular, were breakthroughs."
 
The three-day event was held in two separate locations, Camp Perry, Ohio and Anniston, Ala. Both Nanooks competed in the Camp Perry location. Across the three days, Rylan Kissell shot an aggregate-score of 1882.7, the highest across both locations, besting Nanook-alum, Tim Sherry, who fired a three-day aggregate of 1880.8. On each day, Kissell fired off scores of; 626.1, 627.2 and 629.4 on the final day. As for Kellen McAferty, the junior fired off three-day totals of; 622.5, 620.1 and a final-day score of 621.4. On the final day, McAferty's three-day aggregate of 1864.0 was enough for him to qualify for the Camp Ferry final, alongside Kissell. 
 
McAferty went on to win the Winter Airgun title for Camp Ferry, Ohio, winning in wire-to-wire fashion after leading throughout the entire final. Kissell took home fourth in the Open Final. "Kellen performed consistently in all his matches and showed a lot of growth and discipline in airgun. He also won not only the super final and day three, but the all-important Open Championship Final. Kellen doesn't have a wealth of airgun finals experience, so to win both finals was great affirmation for him that the really process-based things he's been hammering out in practice translate to the highest-pressure scenarios. It's always great to see the 'Nooks leave a match on the highest-step of the podium." Said Anti. 
 
Kissell placed fourth, but he did leave as the U21 National Champion thanks to his three-day aggregate scoring. Anti ended with this, "Both athletes had a lot to be proud of and got some validation that the areas they have keyed-in on during training are enabling them to perform at a high-level and consistently at high-stakes matches. It was a nice sendoff into the holiday break and leaves us excited for the spring semester to arrive!" 
 
Alaska rifle enters the new year with a 7-0 record and 2-0 PRC and will be back in action as a team on Jan. 15-16 against Ole Miss. Their first match back will be at the TVSA and they'll return to the E.F. Horton Rifle Range and the Patty Center on Jan. 16. 
 
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.