Alaska Nanooks


The Alaska Nanooks are the University of Alaska Fairbanks sports teams, derived from the Inupiaq "nanuq." The school colors are blue and gold. The Nanooks compete at the NCAA Division II level for all sports except men's ice hockey. The majority of Nanooks sports are members of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference, the hockey team is a member of the WCHA and plays at the 4,595 seat Carlson Center located west of downtown Fairbanks, while the women's swim team is a member of the , the men's and women's skiing teams are members of the Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Ski Association, and the rifle team competes as a member of the Patriot Rifle Conference.

Sports sponsored

Ice hockey

Intercollegiate men's ice hockey began in the 1925–26 season. The team had competed as an independent team in Division I through the 1960s and Division II through the 1970s. The Nanooks returned to the Division I level in the 1985–86 season and joined the Great West Hockey Conference. The team won the 1987–88 GWHC regular season and 1988 playoff championship. The program is currently a member of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association and in 2010 the Nanooks appeared in their first ever NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament before falling 3–1 to Boston College.

Rifle

The mixed rifle team has won ten NCAA Rifle Championships and placed runners-up four times. In addition to the team championships, 12 Nanook Riflers have won individual championships In 2007 the university hosted the NCAA Rifle Championship, which saw the host Nanooks win their eighth title in nine year in front of a crowd of about 1,000. The Nanooks rifle team most recently won the 2008 National Championship and appeared as runner-up to Texas Christian University in 2010.
In June, 2013, the Nanooks became a charter member of the Patriot Rifle Conference.

Skiing

The Nanooks were members of the Central Collegiate Ski Association from 1992 to 2016. They joined the Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Ski Association in the 2016–17 season. Olympic cross-country skier Tyler Kornfield competed for the Nanooks in both Nordic skiing and cross-country running.