One name still stands out after an NCAA rifle match in Colorado Springs, Colorado earlier this month: Matt Rawlings. A junior from Wharton, Texas, Rawlings led the Nanook rifle team to a 4,705-4,572 victory over the University of Texas El Paso by shooting 600 points in air rifle competition, and also qualified for the U.S. Team. The 600-point score is achieved by shooting a perfect 100 in each of six sets.

"It's really the ultimate goal of the game, to be perfect," Rawlings said. "That score shows perfection and everything coming together-it's the highest match score." Coach Dan Jordan agrees."Matt's performance last weekend was pretty amazing," Jordan said. "Not only is he the first collegiate to shoot a 600, but the first in the U.S. to do it, breaking two national records along the way."

The rifle team is by far UAF's most successful team, winning a record six consecutive NCAA championships before being stopped last year. "This school is amazing, I mean, everyone knows about us," Rawlings said. "All the athletes, even hockey players, they all support us."

So, you might ask, what is the secret to shooting a perfect score? Practice, and lots of it, says Rawlings."The thing about shooting is that it takes a lot of time to get good at it," he said. "We spend three to four hours in practice almost every day. We'd be in there more, but we're limited by an NCAA rule to 20 hours a week."

Rifle shooting is a repetition sport where mental concentration takes the place of physical strength. A shooter has to be smart to do well. "You want to do everything the same way to get good at this, it isn't all about endurance," Rawlings said. "You see a lot of people just shooting a lot of shots, but we might shoot for four hours a day and only fire 40 or 50 shots. If something isn't right you start over until it is right. It can take five minutes to take one shot."

"He's been training really smart this year," Jordan said. "He thinks things through more than most, then figures out the best way of getting there rather than just shooting a lot. I look forward to him doing well at this year's NCAAs, but also at the World Championships in Croatia this summer."

"Rifle isn't that much different from other sports. You spend just as much time working to excel at what you love to do."