Photo by Chris Morgan
Coach Dan Jordan, Billy Galligan, Taylor Beard, Christofer Oloffson, Patrik Sartz and Cody Rutter hoist the NCAA championship trophy. Despite Alaska’s rifle history, only Sartz has competed for the Nanooks at nationals. The team was comprised entirely of freshmen and sophomores.

Last weekend the Nanooks hoisted the NCAA Rifle championship trophy inot the air; that’s not so unusual. Alaska’s shooters did so in 2006 and 2007, and have 10 championships overall.

What made this victory exceptional is that the team was composed entirely of freshman and sophomores, and only one sophomore—Patrik Sartz—had NCAA championship experience. “What they did was phenomenal,” head coach Dan Jordan said in a press release, “It’s got to be the youngest team to have ever won a championship.”

Sartz became the first foreigner since 1994 to take the individual air rifle title with a score of 594. Christofer Olofsson, also a Swede, took third with 592

The Nanooks went into Saturday’s air rifle competition tied for second place, trailing their hosts, Army, by six points.

Freshman Cody Rutter, Alaska’s first shooter of the day, eliminated Army’s lead immediately. “Everybody shot what they should,” coach Dan Jordan said in the release, “I didn’t ask them to come out here and shoot their personal best. Just as long as they shot what they should, then I knew we would have a good chance.”

Six Nanooks took home eight All-American honors: Sartz and Olofsson earned First-team honors in both small-bore and air rifle. Freshmen Rutter and Taylor Beard earned first-team honors in air rifle. Ida Petersen took second-team honors in air-rifle as well. Sophomore Billy Galligan completed the list with an honorable mention in small-bore.

Coach Dan Jordan also took home the national Rifle Coach of the Year award for the second straight year. This championship was Jordan’s third in as many years at the helm of the Nanooks.

“This year was all about learning confidence.” he said, “ They came in a young team, still developing, and they had to learn to be confident enough to win it.”

The win has Jordan already excited for next season.

“With the depth that we have, it is going to be nuts,” he said in the press release, “I had three or four more shooters at home that can compete at this level as well.”

“[The shooters that competed this year] have confidence going into this now: they know they can do it, and its going to make them shoot that much better.”