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Newspaper Archive of
Shelton Mason County Journal
Shelton, Washington
December 25, 1975     Shelton Mason County Journal
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December 25, 1975
 
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FRED NELSON, a senior who's risen to a revel of proficiency attained by only a handful of shooters in the state, displays his form in the standing position. II By STEVE PA ICH Like the fabled furry-footed gnomes of tolkJore, they frequent a cryptic vault beneath the ground, and there they don padded mittens with no fingers and canvas jackets straight out of the tunny larm. They are not growers of strange mushrooms, these odd cellar-dwellers. They are Shelton High School students - and athletes, too, in a manner of speaking. For, although they are not afforded the recognition given other Highclimbers, are without school monetary support and can win no letters as do other athletes, theirs may well be the most rigorous and disciplined sport of them all. They are the some 30 members of Sheiton's rifle team, that steely-nerved band of ~elf-professed gun nuts who plink away every Wednesday after school in an unlikely practice range beneath Angle Gym. "They used to kinda smile when they saw us coming," said Coach Ralph Ervin, "because we're the only team in the league that doesn't get school letters. "But they're not smiling any more not after last year." The source of Ervin's pride is his team's second-place finish in state competition last year, competition won by perennial league-rival Aberdeen. "Many people consider this the toughest league in the state," Ervin said of his team's conference, the Northwest Evergreen Junior Rifle League. "So we know if we do well in league we can feel pretty good about how we're likely to do at state." To those unfamiliar with the riggers of competitive target shooting, a chance encounter with one of the sport's aficionados, fully decked out in his competition garb, might elicit a) intense fear, b) impenetrable confusion, c) uncontrollable laughter or d) all of the above. tte wears on one hand a curious bulky mitten which resembles the slip-on hotpad some cooks use to avoid burns (the re~mblance in many cases being more than coincidental, the team lacking the funds to buy a sufficiency of the real thing). He's cinched tightly into a padded outfit looking very much like a straitjacket but lacking the arm restraints. Chances are he's got a pair of headphones on, too, like a demented audiophile who has absentmindedly wandered away from his stereo. And here's the clincher: He's toting a thickstocked 22-caliber rifle with a U.S. Government serial number stencilled on it, bigger 'n life. "Just the vibration of his own pulse beat is enough to throw a shooter off," said Ervin, explaining the thickly padded glove. "In fact, if he's wearing a wristwatch, its ticking alone would be enough to deflect his shot by a point or two." "Most people would be really amazed if they knew how demanding this sport is," chipped in senior sharpshooter Fred Nelson, who with fellow senior Oliver Chapman represented the team's best at state last season. "It really takes a lot out of you," he continued. "It's essential that you stay absolutely cool and calm during a match, because the slightest rise in your blood pressure or your pulse rate can throw you completely off. "Hey, Oliver... get those silly headphones off and come over here, will ya!" Chapman strolls over, but leaves in place the headphones he's started using since noticing a ringing in his head after the noisy practice sessions. "Yeah," he says. "Developing your endurance is very important, and this sport takes more~ preparation than most people realize." Chapman turned out for Shelton's cross-country team this fall for just that reason. "Shooting puts real demands on your stamina," he repeated. "If I get less than ten hours sleep before a match, I really feel it." The shooters also have to be very careful about what they put in their stomachs before a match. The caffeine in a can of pop, for instance, can raise the blood pressure enough to play havoc on a shooter's accuracy. "The bubbles can cause problems, too," noted Nelson, referring to the sometimes distracting effervescent effects of certain beverages. Standing 50 feet from tiny targets composed of diminishing circles, one within the other, each league-match competitor shoots ten rounds from each of four positions: standing, kneeling, sitting and prone. His best possible score for each shot is ten points. Hence a perfect score for the entire 40-round match is 400. "If the bullet hole touches the higher ring you get the higher score," explained Ervin. So small are these targets, the shooter actually is not able to make out the bull's-eye or the hole made by his shot without peering through a viewfinder between tries. Nelson, who has been at it four years now, is able to hit consistently in the 360s - a score which puts him in the "expert" classification. (There are four, based on points: marksman, under 340; sharpshooter, 340-360; expert, 360-375; and master, over 375.) "The best I've ever shot is a 373 - just last week," said Nelson. "At this point improvement comes very slowly, but 1 can shoot pretty consistently in the 360s." Chapman, who last year placed second in sitting and third in kneeling at state competition in the lower sharpshooter classification, is also a consistent 360s shooter this year, and almost certainly will be moved up to the tougher expert division this time around. "It's considerably harder to place, of course, when you're among the poorer shooters in a higher bracket," he said. "Last year I was competing with a lot of shooters with quite a bit lower averages." Coach Ervin points out that there are very few high school competitors who have reached the master level, and that a score in the high 360s could well win at state. "But it usually takes a shooter about three years just to get into the 30Os," he said, "and when you get over that point there are no big jumps left." In a sport where factors as seemingly insignificant as fluctation in blood pressure can "HAS THE CONDEMNED any last request?" If not, here's looking at you: (kneeling) Wade Campbell, Casey Marler, Jim Blanche, (standing) Dan Underwood, Scott O'Dell, Oliver Chapman, Brett Simpson and John Wooldridge. Among the some 30 members of Shelton High School's small-bore rifle team, they may be seen in league competition six consecutive Mondays starting January 5 at Fort Borst Park in Centralia. P,:~}e 14 . Steel [ort-Md~or~ County Journal - Thursday, December 25, i975 ° PEERING OUT from an unaccustomed vantage --the target area -- is sophomore Casey Marler, a member of the jayvee squad. The wide spread of the bulletholes around him is not indicative of the competitive accuracy attained; placement by the better shooters rarely varies more than a fraction of the bul let's d iameter. m spell the difference between success and failure, concern with technique understandably is considerable. Even breathing, for instance, comes into play. "The proper procedure," explained Ervin, "is to take in a normal breath, let out half of it, and then lock your throat. That gives you about ten seconds in which to shoot before your blood pressure starts to rise again for lack of oxygen. "But your eyes, meanwhile, generally stay clear only about five seconds, so if you don't get your shot off in the first five seconds, you have only five more before you should breathe again. This puts a real demand on keeping cool and calm, and that can be very difficult under the strain of competition." The top 16 Climbers compose the team's competitive lineup- eight of them varsity and the others jayvee. The jayvees, whose three-match season is already completed, have weekly challenges in which they may nudge any of the bottom three on the varsity. The top two jayvees are alternates and shoot when a varsity man can't make a match. Current varsity spots are held by Nelson and Chapman, seniors Dan Underwood, Scott O'Dell and Brett Simpson, sophomores Ken Drake and Herb Van Cleave, and freshman Bobby Meacham. Alternates are seniors John Wooldridge and lgnacio Martinez. lgnacio - dubbed "Nacho" by his teammates - is an exchange student from Colombia, South America, where he is national archery champion. Jayvee berths have been earned by senior Wade Campbell and sophomores Gene Underwood, Casey Marler, Matt Duffy and Jim Blanche. Lest they be accused of sex discrimination, Ervin hastens to add that his team members also include three girls. "Some years we have as many as six or seven," added the coach, starting his sixth year at the helm. The team competes in nine league matches before sectional and state competition in March. In all, including what they use in practice, the shooters go through about 20,000 rounds of ammunition - mostly long-rifle bullets, "because they're more accurate ballistically," said the coach. In terms of expense, this m B II SOPHOMORE JIM BLANCHE prepares to squeeze off another one practice session in the team's underground range. Blanche a varsity berth this year --just his first in the sport. The winch the post at left activates the target-retrieval system, eliminating the the introduction of human protoplasm into the line of fire at any Below are two viewfinders, used between shots to determine the b~ point of entry. represents a cash outlay of about $42 a year by each participant, excluding his membership and match fees and his contribution toward the purchase of equipment and targets. About half of the rifles are on loan from the U.S. Government, and the Feds are also a source of ammunition - at about half the price you'd pay at your local sporting-goods store. But the kids still scramble every year to come up with the money. Two weeks ago, for example, they sponsored a movie. They lost $12. Next on the agenda are coffee and donut sales during night classes at the high school. "We expect to make about $10 a night," said Chapman optimistically. When asked why his sport is' the only one not recognized by the awarding of school letters, Er~cin had this to say: "1 have a feeling the administration is afraid it'd have to give us a budget if it started awarding letters." Recognition from the high school and the community isn't the only thing the sport has done without over the years. It's also accident -free. "I've never been on a range where there's been an accident of any kind - or even heard of one happening," said Ervin. "Every precaution is taken, and of course we stress safety at all times." What's more, said the coach, two feet of poured concrete separates the practice range and the room above, and beyond the plates and concrete wall the backstop is nothing "And at our depth," reassures us, "a bullet to travel 12 miles before it the surface because curvature of the earth." HEADPHONED OLIVER CHAPMAN Pauses practice rounds. The senior, who donned the headset he began suffering from a ringing in his ears, corn state last year and currently shares the team's spot with Fred Nelson. "Let Fred say he's better if he~ to," consents a noble Chapman. "I'm a nice guy." Life has a way of presenting us with sticky situations from time to time.., and classified advertising has a way of helping solve some of the • stickiest problems of all. If you're looking for a car, a home, a job, a tenant, a lost item or for a cash buyer for unused possessions in your home, Journal classifieds are waiting to help you. When you're in a jam which can best be solved by communicating with others... lstoq- on County