Post date: Jun 19, 2014 5:33:16 PM
By Danny Martin DMARTIN@NEWSMINER.COM
FAIRBANKS — The Alaska Nanooks rifle team begins and ends its 2014-15 season in the Patty Center at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Its last competition is the NCAA Championships, which UAF played host to for the first time in 2007.
“We are really excited to be able to host the 2015 NCAA Championships in Fairbanks,’’ Nanooks head coach Dan Jordan said Wednesday in a UAF press release that announced the team’s schedule.
“When we last hosted in 2007, we were able to change the way championships are hosted by being the first to do the air rifle event in the gym,’’ Jordan added.
The NCAA meet is set for March 13-14, starting at 9 a.m. each day. Smallbore matches take place on the first day in the E.F. Horton Rifle Range in the Patty Center, and the air rifle matches will be contested on the second day in the 1,622-seat Patty gymnasium.
“The community was such a big part of that success (in 2007) with over 1,000 people attending — still an NCAA record,’’ Jordan said. “We have some great ideas to make this year’s championships even better, and we are excited to get the university and community involved again.”
The Nanooks have 10 NCAA team titles in the program’s history — in 1994, from 1999-2004 and from 2006-08. They were were runners-up at last season’s NCAA competition in Murray, Kentucky.
Four athletes return from last season’s travel squad, including junior Tim Sherry, the reigning NCAA individual smallbore champion.
The other returners are seniors Ryan Anderson and Mats Eriksson, and junior Lorelie Stanfield.
The Nanooks open the regular season at 9 a.m. on Oct. 11-12, playing host to the University of Tennessee-Martin.
The Nanooks visit Texas El Paso on Oct. 18 and Texas Christian in Fort Worth, Texas, on Oct. 19. Both matches are set to start at 7 a.m. AST.
Kentucky visits the Patty Center on Nov. 21, and the Wildcats and the Nebraska Cornhuskers meet there the next day in a neutral-site match. The Nanooks take on Nebraska on Nov. 23 in the E.F. Horton Range.
All three matches begin at 9 a.m.
The Nanooks start 2015 with a visit to Ohio State in Columbus, Ohio on Jan. 11, and stay in Ohio to face the University of Akron on Jan. 13. Both matches start at 5 a.m. AST.
Defending NCAA champion West Virginia comes to the Patty Center for 9 a.m. contests on Jan. 31 and Feb. 1.
The Nanooks meet the University of Nevada in a neutral-site match at the Air Force Academy in Colorado on Feb. 5. The Nanooks remain at the academy to defend their title in the Patriot Rifle Conference Championships on Feb. 7-8.
All of competition at the academy is set to start at
7 a.m. AST each day.
The Nanooks close the regular season on Feb. 21 with an NCAA Qualifier match at 9 a.m., in the E.F. Horton Range.