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UAF rifle team aims for history
By BOB ELEY
Sports Editor
The Nanooks officially found out on Tuesday that they will have the opportunity to go where no other collegiate rifle team has ever gone before.
The University of Alaska Fairbanks is one of six teams that qualified in both the smallbore and air rifle events at the March 10-12 NCAA Championships in Colorado Springs, Colo.
That means the Nanooks now have the opportunity to win their seventh straight NCAA title, breaking the tie they are now in with West Virginia. The Mountaineers won six straight titles from 1988-1993.
Ironically, it was UAF that ended that streak when the Randy Pitney-coached Nanooks captured the first of their seven national titles in 1994.
UAF's current string of six straight NCAA championships began in 1999 under Pitney, who also coached the team in 2000. Dave Johnson, the current U.S. National Team coach, was at the helm of the Nanooks for the 2001 and 2002 titles, and current coach Glenn Dubis took over for the 2003 and 2004 championship runs.
While the Nanooks were pretty sure that they had already qualified, it's always a relief to get the official news.
"It (qualifying) is something that you almost take for granted," Dubis said in a statement released by the university. "During the next two weeks, we have to focus on training for the championships, as well as taking care of our academic obligations."
In addition to qualifying for the team title, the Nanooks earned six of the 22 spots in the individual competition.
Junior Jamie Beyerle and sophomore Matt Rawlings earned berths in both the individual smallbore and air rifle events, while seniors Joe Hein and Matt Wallace will shoot in the smallbore competition.
Beyerle was the air rifle national champion in 2003 and finished third in both the smallbore and air rifle events last year. Rawlings won the smallbore title last year and finished second in the air rifle event. Hein was second in smallbore, giving UAF a clean sweep of the medals in that event.
Other schools that qualified for the team event in both smallbore and air rifle are Army, Jacksonville State, Kentucky, Navy and Nebraska. Navy won a dual match with the Nanooks in the regular season, however UAF will not field the same lineup for the national championships as it did that day.
The University of Texas-El Paso and Xavier qualified for the smallbore event, while Memphis and host Nevada earned spots in the air rifle event.
UAF had four of the 12 shooters who qualified for the individual smallbore competition. Others in the field include Army's Christopher Abalo and Michael Jablonski, Kentucky's Chris Boggs, Nebraska's Kristina Fehlings, Jacksonville State's Joseph Hall, Xavier's Hannah Kerr, Navy's Chris Schneider and Xavier's Leah Wilcox.
Only 10 shooters qualified to compete for the NCAA individual air rifle championship. In addition to Beyerle and Rawlings, other qualifiers were Nebraska's Fehlings, Misty Chanek and Andrea Franzen, Army's Abalo and Lucas Leinberger, Tennessee Tech's Chris Dautel and defending champion Ryan Tanoue of Nevada.
http://www.news-miner.com/Stories/0,1413,113~7248~2727627,00.html
By BOB ELEY
Sports Editor
The Nanooks officially found out on Tuesday that they will have the opportunity to go where no other collegiate rifle team has ever gone before.
The University of Alaska Fairbanks is one of six teams that qualified in both the smallbore and air rifle events at the March 10-12 NCAA Championships in Colorado Springs, Colo.
That means the Nanooks now have the opportunity to win their seventh straight NCAA title, breaking the tie they are now in with West Virginia. The Mountaineers won six straight titles from 1988-1993.
Ironically, it was UAF that ended that streak when the Randy Pitney-coached Nanooks captured the first of their seven national titles in 1994.
UAF's current string of six straight NCAA championships began in 1999 under Pitney, who also coached the team in 2000. Dave Johnson, the current U.S. National Team coach, was at the helm of the Nanooks for the 2001 and 2002 titles, and current coach Glenn Dubis took over for the 2003 and 2004 championship runs.
While the Nanooks were pretty sure that they had already qualified, it's always a relief to get the official news.
"It (qualifying) is something that you almost take for granted," Dubis said in a statement released by the university. "During the next two weeks, we have to focus on training for the championships, as well as taking care of our academic obligations."
In addition to qualifying for the team title, the Nanooks earned six of the 22 spots in the individual competition.
Junior Jamie Beyerle and sophomore Matt Rawlings earned berths in both the individual smallbore and air rifle events, while seniors Joe Hein and Matt Wallace will shoot in the smallbore competition.
Beyerle was the air rifle national champion in 2003 and finished third in both the smallbore and air rifle events last year. Rawlings won the smallbore title last year and finished second in the air rifle event. Hein was second in smallbore, giving UAF a clean sweep of the medals in that event.
Other schools that qualified for the team event in both smallbore and air rifle are Army, Jacksonville State, Kentucky, Navy and Nebraska. Navy won a dual match with the Nanooks in the regular season, however UAF will not field the same lineup for the national championships as it did that day.
The University of Texas-El Paso and Xavier qualified for the smallbore event, while Memphis and host Nevada earned spots in the air rifle event.
UAF had four of the 12 shooters who qualified for the individual smallbore competition. Others in the field include Army's Christopher Abalo and Michael Jablonski, Kentucky's Chris Boggs, Nebraska's Kristina Fehlings, Jacksonville State's Joseph Hall, Xavier's Hannah Kerr, Navy's Chris Schneider and Xavier's Leah Wilcox.
Only 10 shooters qualified to compete for the NCAA individual air rifle championship. In addition to Beyerle and Rawlings, other qualifiers were Nebraska's Fehlings, Misty Chanek and Andrea Franzen, Army's Abalo and Lucas Leinberger, Tennessee Tech's Chris Dautel and defending champion Ryan Tanoue of Nevada.
http://www.news-miner.com/Stories/0,1413,113~7248~2727627,00.html
