Rifle team gets 26th straight NCAA championship bid
February 22, 2013
Jamie Foland
907-474-6807
The Alaska Nanooks have been selected to participate in the 2013 NCAA Men's and Women's Rifle Championships for the 26th consecutive season and 27th time overall.
Teams were selected based on an average of their three highest regular season aggregate scores, which was then added to the aggregate scores from their designated qualifying matches.
The Blue and Gold qualified fourth overall with a team score of 9341.67. The West Virginia Mountaineers were the top qualifying squad with a 9432.00, followed by 2012 runner-up Kentucky with 9399.33 and 2012 defending national champion Texas Christian in third with 9393.00.
Rounding out the eight-team field were Jacksonville State (9330.67), Army (9329.00), Nebraska (9298.67) and Air Force (9284.33).
Last year the Nanooks tied Kentucky for second overall at the 2012 NCAA Championships but were ousted as runner-up, losing the tie-breaker for center shots 264-254, and taking third place for jus the second time in program history. Alaska made its NCAA Championships debut in 1980 and has qualified every year since their second appearnace in 1988.
The 1994 team, inducted in the Alaska's Nanook Hall of Fame in 2011, was the first to capture the national crown ousting nation powerhouse West Virginia.
After finishing fifth twice, third and then second over the next four seasons, they won their second title in 1999 and went on to win six consecutive through 2004 before seeing their streak snapped in 2005: the first year the championships consisted of 60 shots for both smallbore and air rifle, equaling a total of 120 shots per team member.
They bounced back in 2006 and won three straight through 2008, the last time they hosited the national tropy. Since then, they have finished fourth, second, sixth and third and are hungry to capture their first national title in five years.
Alaska will compete for that ellusive 11th national championship next month in Colubus, Ohio. This year's championships are being hosted by The Ohio State University, Mar. 8-9 at the Converse Hall and French Field House on OSU's campus.