After a few rough years, the JROTC co-curricular Raider team has finally made it to the top and the co-ed team is ready to compete at the Raider National Championship Nov. 3-5 in Fort Knox, Kentucky. Despite some setbacks during their Regional Fourth Brigade Best of the Best competition back in April, the team placed eighth overall and were invited to the National Championship.
“We are in a tough region; Fourth Brigade has a lot of very competitive teams. There are at least four teams from our brigade that go to nationals on a regular basis and for us to be included in that group now says that we have worked ourselves to a higher point,” First Sergeant Robert Stewart said.
The Raider team has been at the school for decades, but this will be the first time they are competing at a national competition. This will also make them the first team from Forsyth County to compete.
“It means something really special because we worked really hard to get there and we make an effort every morning to come to practice and be better at the things we do,” senior Madeline Gonzalez said.
The Raider team usually consists of at least eight competing members, co-ed requires at least four to identify as female, and one alternate. The competition consists of five timed events: a 5K, rope bridge, stretcher carry, Team Physical Fitness Challenge (TPFC) and the Logistics Relay. What makes this 5K extra challenging is that at least ten members must complete the race and remain within 30 ft of each other or the team will be disqualified.
“I think it’s challenging as a whole, for both myself and the team. I have to push myself to do my best at something I’m not so good at. For the team I would say that it’s challenging due to the fact that everyone’s fit on different levels,” junior Victoria Pioquinto said.
The rope bridge consists of cadets creating a bridge using one long rope and having eight members climb across to the other side; at nationals the team will have to cross a river. The stretcher carry requires four members to carry 80-120 lbs on a stretcher across an obstacle course. The TPFC requires at least eight members to run through an array of obstacles together as a team. The Logistics Relay requires eight members to carry heavy objects from tires to sandbags at certain distances.
“I think the hardest obstacle would be the 5K because people forget that if you don’t run every week at least one 5K, you’ll struggle more when running the competition because you lose stamina the more you put off running,” sophomore Maggie Lee said.
The road to nationals was not easy and for the past few years the team has faced many challenges.
“Qualifying for nationals means a lot because of how poorly we performed our first couple of years so we have really built on that. There’s been a lot of mess ups on our rope bridge, like mistakes on knots and whatnot. People sometimes don’t listen to what we tell them to do,” senior Kyler Patterson said.
One of the teams participating in the championship will also be competing in the All Service Nationals against Navy, Air Force and Marine JROTC teams.
“We are going against the best schools in the country and we are doing the hardest obstacles. So there’s a feeling of proudness,” senior Vincent Chapman said.
The team plans to continue their success into the new year by preparing for spring.
“I hope that nationals shows us the level of competition, like how high this can get. And that it gives the team, and myself especially, motivation to keep working harder and to get even further,” sophomore Claire Swain said.
The cadets are excited to compete this November and are planning to rest over the winter to be prepared to requalify for nationals in April.
“For me, it’s just being able to see all of the cadets who are participating being able to put national competitors behind their name, whether it’s on their resume or just as something to always take with them. It’s like if the football team won the state championship, that’s great, but we’re going to nationals,” Stewart said.