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Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend September 1, 2005 After a nine-month exile, James Fox won the junior and collegiate championships in the high-powered rifle categories in recent national competitions. Mail Tribune / Roy Musitelli Refreshed Fox back home on the range Outdoors By MARK FREEMAN Mail Tribune After wowing the target-shooting world last summer, James Fox no longer felt at home on the range. Fox was on top of his game in August when he became the only junior ever and first civilian in decades to beat the military sharpshooters at their own game and with their own gun. But he felt overwhelmed by the shooting sports that have dominated half his life. So the 19-year-old White City student enrolled in Oregon State University, trying as best he could to be just another freshmen. His prowess with high-powered rifles stayed deep in the closet. "I found it easier to go to school as a regular person and not having people know what I had done," Fox says. "I just wanted to blend in." His nine-month exile proved as good for his soul as it was for his eye. Advertisement Fox returned to Camp Perry, Ohio, earlier this month and shot his way back into the record books despite his lengthy respite from rifles. Fox, now 20, won the junior and collegiate championships in the high-powered rifle categories in the national matches, which are sponsored annually by the National Rifle Association. Fox also won the rank of top civilian in the Service Rifle Championship over four days of shooting. Though he out-shot last year’s winning score, Fox ended up second overall to Marine Reserve Gunnery Sgt. Julia Watson, a member of the U.S. Marines Shooting team. The pair shot identical scores, but Watson tallied five more bull’s-eyes, called X’s, during the 240-shot match to win the tie-breaker. "That’s like a split second in a marathon," Fox says. Fox’s feat during the Aug. 8-11 championships has earned him star status among shooters across the country. Other junior shooters see him as an idol, and even the entrenched rifle aficionados have taken notice of the fair-haired and soft-spoken kid from Sams Valley. "Every now and then you run into people who have the talent, and James does," says Joe Roberts, the NRA’s communications editor in Virginia who followed Fox at the championships. "I suspect we’ll see him in the top 10 for some time to come, and he’ll probably be at the top of the list," Roberts says. But Fox’s road back to the top is one far less traveled among America’s shooting elite. Over the past nine years, Fox hit the range at least once a week to hone his skills. Homeschooling helped ensure practice time. His efforts came to a head at Camp Perry last year, when he fought through morning shivers to win the DuPont Trophy as Service Rifle champion. Along with the accolades came a need to purge. "Soon after Camp Perry last year, I decided to take a break," Fox says. "I was burned out from the past nine years of shooting high-powered rifle." He entered OSU the following month as just another freshman. "I said, ‘OK, I’m going to school, goof off and study,’ " Fox recalls. For months, he never let his new dorm-mates know that James Fox the finance and marketing major was also James Fox, the civilian who handled a standard .223-caliber military rifle better than any Marine in the land. The rifles, the ribbons and the trophies all stayed home. The only clue to his other life was a target from a 2002 shoot-off that he hung on his dorm-room wall. "Everybody would look at it and say, ‘You play darts?’" Fox says. "I’d just say, ‘No.’ " Fox says he feared how his peers would perceive his relationship with guns. He didn’t speak of guns his first term, then he made a few rare references to it during his second term. By the third term, Fox felt comfortable enough to come clean. He was surprised, Fox says, at the support and acceptance he received. Even people who society might label as anti-hunting or anti-gun were not anti-Fox. "They didn’t care I shot guns at all because I was shooting at targets," he says. "They were understanding of my sport. They were afraid of guns, but they understood it was a sport." In May, Fox returned to his sport, winning the state championship. After just a dozen days of practice, Fox returned to Camp Perry to defend his title. "I went back there hoping to do well, but not expecting to do well," Fox says. "Sometimes a break, like, will help you," he says. "You focus on fundamentals, not practicing bad habits." During Fox’s year in obscurity, the rest of the shooters not only took notice of Fox, they took aim at him as the man to beat. "Last year, nobody really considered me a contender at all," Fox says. "This year, they were all shooting for me." Last year, he led the Service Rifle Championship wire to wire. This year, he chased Watson the entire way. Fox coasted to the top junior and collegiate titles. "He’s a very focused kid and this is one very significant instance of that," says Nelson Shew, a former U.S. Army shooting champion from Lebanon who is Fox’s coach. "He puts pressure on himself and rises to the occasion," Shew says. "That’s what makes a champion. But he may not see that in himself yet because he’s so young." The titles were nice, Fox says. But being runner-up to Watson and earning his second straight year as the best non-military shooter with military rifles tasted sweeter. "To me, I think the high civilian means more because I’ve done it two years in a row," Fox says. And for the second year in a row, Fox will put the shooting world behind him, focusing on being an OSU student. "I’ll take another leave of absence, but it may not be as long," Fox says. This time, he won’t hide his high-powered persona. Fox’s own skin fits again. "I’m just like anybody else," Fox says. "I just shoot. That’s what I do." Reach reporter Mark Freeman at 776-4470, or e-mail Refreshed Fox back home on the range ">[email protected] . Mail Tribune Home | Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life | Opinion AP News | Archives | Site Map | Community | Classified Copyright © 1997-2005 Mail Tribune, Inc. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions | Website Feedback www.bingo.com Home Security Systems Trunks, Footlocker dvd-r Distance Education Computer Security Ztech Media Hosting Sports Equipment Online Casino Reviews Student Loans tcg student loan consolidation Online Pharmacy online casino Myspace Home Equity Loans Windermere Van Vleet Rogue Valley Travel Reservationstogo Hotel Reservations Southern Oregon Loans Online Casino News Natto Kinase Nattokinase Casino Gambling Sites Budget Website Templates Investments & Loans Advertisement s