Post date: Sep 21, 2016 12:09:52 AM
By: Danny Martin DMARTIN@NEWSMINER.COM
FAIRBANKS — Layne Lewis gets to guide the rifle team that he competed for during the last decade.
The native of Two Rivers was announced Monday as the interim head coach for the Alaska Nanooks, who have 10 NCAA team championships in their history.
Lewis, a Nanooks shooter from 2005-09, replaces Dan Jordan, who resigned in July to become co-owner and brewmaster for the White Dog Brewing Co., in Boise, Idaho.
Jordan competed for the Nanooks from 1997-99 and graduated from the University of Alaska Fairbanks in 2001 with a degree in natural resources management. As his alma mater’s head rifle coach, he guided the program to NCAA team titles from 2006-08, the first three seasons of 11-season tenure.
Lewis was a volunteer assistant coach for Jordan in 2013-14, and his competitive seasons with the Nanooks included being part of the 2007 and 2008 NCAA championship squads.
Gary Gray, UAF athletics director, said in a university release Monday that the Nanooks rifle program was fortunate that Lewis was ready, willing and able to step in and take over as the interim head coach.
“Layne’s experience in the sport and within the local shooting scene will be very helpful to our student-athletes this season,’’ Gray said. “We are very grateful for his willingness to serve.”
He redshirted as a freshman shooter for the Nanooks in 2005-06. As a sophomore, Lewis qualified for the 2007 NCAA Championships that took place at the UAF Patty Center. He just missed qualifying for the smallbore final.
Lewis’s junior season included recording a pair of season-best scores in the two disciplines. He shot a 580 in the air rifle against Texas Christian University on Oct. 27, 2007 and fired a 575 in smallbore against Army on Jan. 22, 2008.
He was later named the Alaska Nanooks Humanitarian of the Year for 2007-08.
As a senior in 2008-09, he earned Honorable Mention All-America in smallbore and he received an Academic All-America honor. Lewis graduated from UAF in 2010 with a geology degree.
He has previously worked as a geologist at a variety of mines throughout Alaska.
Lewis owns and operates Lewis Shooting Development, LLC, and volunteers as an instructor with the Midnight Sun Sharpshooters Club and as the equipment and facility manager for the Tanana Valley Sportmen’s Association.