Post date: Dec 15, 2013 4:36:16 AM
By Danny Martin DMARTIN@NEWSMINER.COM
FAIRBANKS — The NCAA Rifle Championships are returning to the Patty Center on the University of Alaska Fairbanks campus.
The NCAA announced UAF as the host of the 2015 championships on Wednesday morning. UAF was the site of the 2007 championships, and the host Nanooks emerged as the team champion, one of 10 NCAA titles in the program’s history.
“It’s really cool and I’m really excited,’’ Nanooks head coach Dan Jordan, during a telephone interview Wednesday, said of the 2015 meet. “I think Gary (Gray, UAF athletic director) and the chancellor (Brian Rogers) are both super excited, and I think it’s going to be really fun.”
One difference about the 2015 meet compared to the 2007 nationals is that the Nanooks and UAF personnel will have more time to prepare.
“(2007) was totally short notice,’’ Jordan said. “It was like it was dumped on us at the last minute and we only had two months to prepare.”
“This gives us time to look at some changes and we want to make (2015) a good event,’’ he added.
The Nanooks produced a good 2007 national meet based on the feedback they received.
“We handed out athlete surveys and they (remarks) were just glowing. Everyone loved it,’’ Jordan said. “The long travel was probably the only detractor, but everyone loved the experience. They loved the crowd, and they loved the gym.”
The Nanooks conducted the competition in the Patty Center gymnasium rather than the facility’s E.F. Horton Range. More than 1,000 spectators attended the event, which marked the first time an NCAA rifle championship was contested in a gymnasium.
Since then, national meets in college gymnasium have become the norm.
Several coaches also remembered the 2007 nationals in the Patty Center. They wrote letters to the NCAA in support of UAF’s bid about two months ago for the 2015 NCAA Championships.
“One of the big things the NCAA is pushing really hard now is the student-athlete experience,” Jordan said.
“A bunch of coaches kind of did a write-in campaign expressing their support,’’ Jordan said. “They were saying that if you want the student-athlete experience, where’s the better experience in that than Fairbanks, Alaska?
“For one, we had a 1,000 people show up. It was a special experience for the athlete and it pushed us over the top.”
Jordan noted that there’s more beneficiaries for the 2015 NCAA Rifle Championships at UAF than just the Nanooks.
“I think the biggest thing is Fairbanks has a community that gets behind these events,’’ he said. “It’s not just the shooting community, it’s the whole community of Fairbanks.
“Look at the (2014) Arctic Winter Games, the Yukon Quest (International Sled Dog Race annually) and look at basketball tournaments, such as the (old) Top of the World,” Jordan said. “Fairbanks likes being involved in these things.
“This (2015 NCAA Rifle Championships) draws recognition to Fairbanks, to the region, to the university and to our rifle program.”
The national meet is scheduled for March 13-14, 2015, in the Patty Center, but it’s already motivated this season’s edition of the Nanooks, who are 6-0 and ranked No. 1 in the Collegiate Rifle Coaches Association Poll.
“It’s a big push for them,’’ Jordan said. “They’re hosting it at home and they want to win at home.
“It puts pressure on them in a good way,” he said. “It makes them want to work hard this year and the rest of the way because they know they’re going to have a challenge here at home in front of everybody.”