Rifle opens 2013 with a win at No. 8 Murray State

January 11, 2013

University Relations

Jamie Foland
474-6807

The No. 4 Alaska Nanooks opened 2013 with an 11-point road victory, defeating the No. 8 Murray State Racers 4666-4655 today at the Pat Spurgin Rifle Range.

Alaska fired its second best aggregate of the year for the win, their second on the road this season, coming three points shy of the season high of 4670 that was fired against No. 1 West Virginia in Fairbanks on Nov. 17, 2012.

The Nanooks outgunned the Racers 2319-2299 in smallbore with the top four scores on the day. They were led by a match and personal-high 587 by freshman Tim Sherry (Highlands Ranch. Colo./Mechanical Engineering), who was nearly perfect in prone position with a 199.

Matching Sherry's  199-point effort from the floor was sophomore and team captain Mats Eriksson (Malung, Sweden/Business Management), who was second best in the match and also shot his personal record of 583 in the match.

Rounding out Alaska's starting shooters were sophomore Ryan Anderson (Great Falls, Va./Biology) with a 580, senior Cole Bures (Odell, Neb./Electrical Engineering) with a 578 and junior Michael Liuzza (New Orleans, La./Business Administration) with a 574.

Two more Nanooks, junior Dustin Chesebro (Laramie, Wy./Engineering) and freshman Soren Butler (Casselton, N.D./General Studies), put up individual scores of 573 and 571, respectively.

In air gun, MSU shot the top three scores to best the Blue and Gold 2356-2347; however, it wasn't enough to overcome the 20-point deficit in smallbore for the overall win. The Racers Tessa Howard shot the match-high 593, while her teammates Kelsey Emme and Michael Burzynski shot for 589 and 588, respectively.

Cheseboro and Liuzza fired matching 588 to lead the Blue and Gold, while Anderson (587), Sherry (584) and Eriksson (580) chipped in on the starting line. Bures (585) and Butler (583) competed as individuals in the match.

The Nanooks continue their stay in the Bluegrass State, taking on the No. 3 Kentucky Wildcats on Sunday, Jan. 13 at MSU's Pat Spurgin Rifle Range.