JROTC cadets complete first team competition of season

Senior Chad Schmidt and junior Josh Copeland compete during the logistics relay as part of the Raider team competition. The team took second place.

Chad Schmidt, Reporter

The JROTC program visited Cleveland High School for the annual Tri-Meet Competition Oct. 8.

“They performed better than I had expected for the little amount of time for practice they had. We were able to take 3rd place overall in the Raider Competition, which is normally a highly contested competition. The Color Guard and Drill Team didn’t do as well. That just means they need more work,” Senior Army Instructor Lieutenant Colonel Belmont said.

According to Belmont, the Raider Team demonstrates the highest level of physical fitness and teamwork in everything they do. Raider Team events consist of a PT Test, 5 kilometer run, litter carry obstacle course and a logistics relay.

“For our first competition, with lack of time to prepare, we actually did very well. We came in third place out of 12 teams, which wasn’t bad for a first competition, but you know we always would like to come in first place,” team commander junior Joshua Copeland said.

The Raider Team also won second place in the Litter Carry and Logistics Relay events. Color Guard and Drill Team were not so fortunate.

“Well, this previous competition, they didn’t do too well, but they actually did better than I would expect from a full freshmen squad. I believe that the pressure actually got to them, so that might have shaken them up a bit,” team commander junior  Wilson Ortiz said.

Neither Color Guard nor Drill Team placed competitively amongst the 12 teams that attended this competition. Improvement upon this is imperative to LTC Belmont.

Belmont said, “This year’s start was not as glorious as the past years. We are going to another competition Nov. 19, where we expect all teams to take either 1st or 2nd place.”