Post date: Sep 20, 2013 3:12:42 AM
By Danny Martin dmartin@newsminer.com
FAIRBANKS — The Alaska Nanooks are ranked third in the Collegiate Rifle Coaches Association Preseason Poll, as the winner of multiple NCAA national championships enters its first season in the Patriot Rifle Conference.
The Nanooks, owners of 10 national titles, followed No. 1-ranked and defending NCAA champion West Virginia and No. 2 ranked Kentucky in the poll that was announced Monday.
The other 17 teams in the poll are, respectively, Texas Christian University, Army, Nebraska, Air Force, Jacksonville State (Ala.), Murray State, Ohio State, Mississippi, Memphis, Nevada, Navy, North Carolina State, Akron, Columbus State (Ga.), Texas-El Paso, Tennessee-Martin and Morehead State (Ky.).
“(Last year), we performed right where we should have and it was a good championship (tournament),’’ Nanooks head coach Dan Jordan said Monday in a University of Alaska Fairbanks press release.
The Nanooks placed fourth in the 2013 NCAA tournament last March in Columbus, Ohio. Alaska captured national titles in 1994 and from 1999 to 2004 and 2006-08.
“This year going in, we’re No. 3 and we have almost all of our shooters coming back so we have a solid start,’’ Jordan said. “The other three teams ahead of us last year all graduated off some of their top shooters. We’re sitting in a really good spot and I think third may be a bit low for us but we’ll see where it goes.”
Among the returning Nanooks are Ryan Anderson, a junior from Great Falls, Va., and a First-Team All-American last season in smallbore, as well as a Second Team All-America honoree in air rifle. Anderson placed fourth individually in smallbore at the NCAA’s and posted the highest score in the individual final.
Other All-Americans returning for Alaska are seniors Mike Liuzza and Dustin Chesebro and junior Mats Eriksson.
Liuzza, from New Orleans, was a smallbore Second Team All-American and Honorable Mention All-American in air rifle.
Chesebro, from Laramie, Wyo., was a Second Team All-American and Eriksson, from Malung, Sweden, received an Honorable Mention All-America in the discipline.
“We’re sitting really solid not only in quality of shooters and the talent level, but in the cohesion level in where the team is moving,’’ Jordan said. “They’re really pushing each other hard and upped their goals this year. I think we have a good chance of making a run at it (national title) this year.”
The Nanooks, with five sophomores and three freshmen on the 2013-14 roster, opens the season Sept. 28-29 with its Alumni Match at the E.F. Horton Range in the UAF Patty Center.
Among the alumni scheduled to compete are Jamie (Beyerle) Gray, a 2012 Olympic gold medalist, who also is being inducted in the Alaska Nanooks Hall of Fame on Sept. 28. The hall of fame induction ceremony starts at 10:30 a.m. at the Wedgewood Resort.
The first day of the Alumni Match begins at 8 a.m. and a starting time has not yet been announced for the second day.
Alaska begins the regular season in October at home against the University of Mississippi and North Carolina State University.
Mississippi and North Carolina State compete against each other at 9 a.m. Oct. 11 and the Nanooks face North Carolina State at the same time on Oct. 12. Mississippi and Alaska take to the E.F. Horton Range at the same time on Oct. 13.
The Nanooks have their first conference match at the Air Force Academy in Colorado on Jan. 9. Other conference members are TCU, Ohio State, Nevada and Texas-El Paso. The complete Nanooks schedule is available at www.alaskananooks.com.
The conference championships are set for Feb. 8-9 in Columbus, Ohio, and the NCAA Championship takes place March 14-15 in Murray, Ky.
Contact sports editor Danny Martin at 459-7586.