CANON CITY, Colo.—Justine Fellhauer surprised herself when she earned a national ranking in the Junior Olympic Women’s Rifle National Championship after competing for only 18 months.
The sophomore captain of Canon City High School’s JROTC rifle team, who had never fired a gun before joining, posted an aggregate score of 739.
“I placed 95th in the nation out of 170,” said Fellhauer, who also placed first at a recent team competition.
Fellhauer followed her cousin into JROTC, but she still isn’t sure how she became interested in the rifle team.
“I just remember going into the classroom and taking the test,” Fellhauer said. “You have to get a 100 percent. I remember passing everything and joining the team, and that’s where I started.”
The soft-spoken Fellhauer said she was not particularly interested in shooting guns, until joining the rifle team. After a year in sporter competition, she advanced to the varsity level and joined the precision team, training with a new rifle style.
Fellhauer said her family has been supportive of her novel sport.
“This was very new,” she said. “When I first started, they weren’t too sure. They thought it was kind of a tomboy thing. This year, they are totally psyched. They are into everything I do.”
Fellhauer intends to take her mental and physical preparation seriously during the next two years of competition.
“I do plan on increasing a lot more into the sport,” Fellhauer said. “My coach wants me to join a four-year university with a rifle scholarship—and hopefully join the Olympic team.”
Fellhauer plans to maintain her grades and do well on the ACT or SAT so she can get into a university.
Colorado doesn’t have any rifle schools, so Fellhauer will have to look out-of-state.
“I’m literally just looking now at colleges. I just started,” she said.
Fellhauer credits her success to her coach and JROTC instructor, Sgt. Paul Vertrees.
“He is my life mentor,” she said. “He has really helped me come a long way. He helps me mentally. He always makes time if I need anything.”
Fellhauer said the team requires a major time commitment.
“Now for me, I have to practice all summer long because I’m going to a championship in Ohio in July,” she said.
Only those who have won a national level championship challenge are eligible for the NRA Junior Air Rifle Championships at Camp Perry, Ohio, she said.
Fellhauer hopes people will see that rifle competition is a real sport.
“We have to watch our diet and we have to exercise,” she said.
Sgt. Vertrees stresses the need to be physically prepared for the competitions, emphasizing cardiovascular health.
“He told me when I got on precision team, that’s when I needed to get serious, and I really started working hard.”
Sgt. Vertrees keeps a poster in his classroom that says “A leader is anyone who sets a positive example for anyone to follow.”
Fellhauer seems to have taken those words to heart.
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