FAIRBANKS – The Alaska Nanooks rifle team grabbed a win over Georgia Southern, Kentucky and West Virginia in a four-team match. The Nanooks grabbed the win with an aggregate score of 4752. WVU came in second with a 4751, Kentucky took third with a 4726 and Georgia Southern took fourth with a 4658.
 
The Nanooks had six athletes in the top-10 for individual finishes; Peter Fiori led the way for Alaska with an 1192 aggregate score – this placed him third overall in the individual standings. Gavin Barnick rounded out the top-five finishes for the Nanooks with a fifth-place finish after firing an aggregate score of 1186. Kellen McAferty placed sixth-overall with an 1186, Rachael Charles followed in seventh with an 1184, Sára Karasová took eighth with an 1184 and Rylan Kissell took ninth with an aggregate of 1184. Sofia Ceccarello of Kentucky took the individual crown with an 1193, beating out Mary Tucker of West Virginia who also shot an 1193. 
 
In smallbore, West Virginia fired a 2371, leading the four teams. Alaska followed close behind with a 2366 and Kentucky and Georgia Southern took third and fourth in the discipline with scores of 2352 and 2301. In the individual smallbore standings, Peter Fiori fired the top-score with a 596. Kellen McAferty fired a 591 for a sixth-place finish in the individual standings, besting Gavin Barnick by one. His 590 placed him sixth. Rachael Charles and Karasová rounded out the top-10 finishes for the Nanooks with scores of 589 and 588, respectively. Kissell (585), Marina Gonzalez Mazo (581) and Tobias Bernhoft-Osa (578) rounded out the smallbore scores for Alaska. 
 
Barnick, Charles, Fiori, Kissell and McAferty were the counters in the smallbore discipline. 
 
In air rifle, it was Calista Smoyer, Ceccarello, Kissell and Tucker leading the way with four 599 scores. Ceccarello took first, Tucker took second, Kissell took third and Smoyer took fourth – Kissell's third-place finish was the highest individual finish in air rifle for the Nanooks and capped off his 1184 aggregate day. Peter Fiori followed Kissell in sixth-place with a score of 596, Barnick followed in seventh with a 596 and Karasová also fired a 596 to finish in eighth. McAferty missed a top-10 finish with a 595 for an 11^th-place finish, Charles followed in 12^th with a 595 and Bernhoft-Osa took 14^th with the same score. Gonzalez Mazo was the final Nanook, placing 16^th with a 594. 
 
The Nanooks will head to the Air Force Academy next weekend for a weekend matchup on Jan. 21-22 in Colorado. 
 
For more information on the Alaska Nanooks rifle team, follow @NanooksRifle on Instagram or Twitter, or like the Alaska Nanooks Rifle team page on Facebook.