Rifle shoots season high, falls to No.3 Kentucky 4705-4687
January 14, 2013
Jamie Foland
907-474-6807
The fourth-ranked Alaska Nanooks rifle team shot its best match of the year but it wasn't enough to take down the No. 3 Kentucky Wildcats, who beat them 4705-4687 on Sunday at the Pat Spurgin Rifle Range.
Alaska's shooters fired the best team scores of the season in both air rifle and smallbore en route to topping their previous season-high aggregate of 4670, which was shot against No. 1 West Virginia on Nov. 17, 2012. UK edged the Nanooks in smallbore by a single point, 2331-2330, and were 17 points better than the visitors in air gun, besting them 2374-2357.
“It was a great day today, one of the best performances I have seen from the team all year ,” said head coach Dan Jordan. “The whole team is excited with seeing continual improvement over the year and we are moving in the direction we need to be in order to be ready for (NCAA) Championships.”
Leading the way for the Blue and Gold in both disciplines was sophomore Ryan Anderson (Great Falls, Va./Biology). Anderson's 587 was second on the day as UK's Henri Junghanel was the champion with a 590. Wildcat Heather Greathouse was third overall with a 586 and Alaska freshman Tim Sherry (Highlands Ranch, Colo./Mechanical Engineering) was fourth with a 585.
Junior Mike Liuzza (New Orleans, La./Business Administration) and sophomore Mats Eriksson (Malung, Sweden/Business Management) put up matching 579s while senior Cole Bures (Odell, Neb./Electrical Engineering) rounded out the starting squad with a 578.
Rounding out the individual shooters for Alaska was first-year team member Soren Butler (Casselton, N.D./General Studies) with a 570 and junior Dustin Cheseboro (Laramie, Wy./Engineering) with a 569.
The Nanooks trailed by just one point heading into air rifle and went on to have a solid day on the range, but six Wildcats shot a 590 or better to widen the gap and prove victorious.
UK's Davis Conner was three points shy of perfect, putting up a 597 as the air gun champion. Anderson's 592 was tops for the Nanooks and fourth best overall. Cheseboro was the only other Alaska shooter above 590, as he hit his season high of 591.
Eriksson was matched by Bures with a 588, while Liuzza shot a 586, Sherry a 585 and Butler a 581.
Alaska returns home to host the No. 2 Texas Christian Horned Frogs for a pair of matches next Saturday (Jan. 19) and Monday (Jan. 21) at the E.F. Horton Rifle Range.