After years of bringing home the gold, the Alaska Nanook rifle team has a chance to win it in friendly territory.

The 2007 National Collegiate Athletics Association National Rifle Championships are being held next weekend at the UAF Patty Center, a perfect chance for the eight-time national champions to secure another crown.

Competing in the championships is nothing new for UAF.

"There's definitely a lot more pressure than the rest of the season," said rifle coach Dan Jordan. "It's not just other teams that you're competing against, but the best of the best from each team."

Despite the Nanooks' experience with championship shooting, however, hosting a tournament is a different level of pressure.

"It's harder to stay on top than it is to get there, especially on your home turf," Jordan said.

In addition to the Nanooks, the tournament field consists of teams from Jacksonville State, Kentucky, Murray State, Nebraska, Texas Christian, Army and Navy. There are also 11 individual qualifiers, including UAF's Layne Lewis.

The Nanooks' qualified team consists of Matthew Rawlings, Matthias Dierolf, Christian Lejon and Patrik Sartz.

To take advantage of the leap in publicity the rifle team is getting this year, the Athletics Department has made significant improvements to the E.L. Horton Rifle Range and the team's equipment.

The range has not been renovated or worked on for several years, but this year has seen the walls and floor refinished and repainted, and removal of malfunctioning air scrubbers.

The team has also purchased new electronic targets, which allow much greater scoring precision and speed.

"We now have one of the best two or three ranges in the country," Jordan said.

The tournament will consist of two main events, smallbore and air rifle. The smallbore matches will be played out in the range, but the air rifle will be hosted in the Patty Center Gym.

In addition to being able to watch the shooters firing, the electronic targets will be connected to 15-by-20 foot screens, so the audience will be able to view each individual shooter's target.

"With the targets, there is a lot for people to see and watch," Jordan said.

This is only the second time an NCAA tournament has been hosted in Alaska. UAA has hosted an NCAA skiing tournament, but Fairbanks has never played host to such an event.

The closest the Golden Heart City has come is the annual Top of the World Classic basketball tournament, which is a nationwide event. The biggest difference between the two is that NCAA Championship determines the best team in the country rather than just in the tournament.

The opportunity to host the NCAA tournament means a lot for the university beyond the chance to win at home. In addition to increased national attention and recognition, the university has the chance to build a stronger relationship with the NCAA national organization.

"It goes along with some of the other things I've been doing," said Forrest Karr, UAF's director of athletics and recreation. "For us to be a national school, involvement with the NCAA is necessary. There's a national umbrella over us -- we've tried to remain regional, and we need to expand."

If UAF expands its relationship with the NCAA organization, there will be future opportunities for other events to be hosted locally, Karr said.

"We're trying to encourage involvement in possibly hosting a men's basketball regional tournament," he said.

If the Nanooks, in any sport, finished their season with a strong position or ranking, a bid for hosting a tournament could be submitted and possibly successful, Karr said.

For the current tournament, the Nanooks are hoping to improve community awareness.

"The community involvement should be interesting, because we have a different fan-base -- different people from hockey, basketball -- we're getting a different group here," Jordan said.

The tournament will be held March 9 and 10 at the Patty Center.