Nease NJROTC’s varsity drill team dominated in Personnel Inspection, Academics, Athletics and Drill to take home the championship at the Mandarin HS NJROTC sanctioned drill meet on Nov. 21 in Jacksonville, beating out 11 other NJROTC units from northern Florida and Georgia.
With the victory, Nease NJROTC has secured its slot in the Area 12 Dill Championships to be held in Georgia on March 5, 2016.
In addition to claiming the overall trophy, Nease picked up first place trophies for Personnel Inspection, Academics, Athletics, Color Guard, Armed Basic Drill, Armed Exhibition Drill, Push Ups, and Sit Ups; second place in 8 x 220 Relay; and third place in Unarmed Exhibition Drill and 16 x 100 Relay.
Several Nease cadets received individual recognition during the competition.
Cadets Marcus Sanders, Scott Cummings and Ryan Berry earned top honors for Academics, receiving the highest three scores among the 180 competitors.
Cadet Jacob Hunt and Patrick Henkel finished 1st and 3rd respectively in Solo Exhibition Drill.
Cadets Brian Swicegood and Christopher Babcock finished 1st and 3rd in Male Push Ups while Cadets Krista Ecker and Cali Vaughn finished 1st and 3rd in Female Push Ups. Cadet Mac Davis finished 3rd in Male Sit Ups.
“It’s great to win this first competition,” said Color Guard commander Nolan Alexander. “But we recognize we have a lot of tough training ahead of us to prepare for Area 12 and hopefully (Navy) Nationals.”
The Naval Service Training Command in Pensacola recognized Nease as the number 1 ranked NJROTC unit in the nation for 2015.
Other top school in the competition were Terry Parker HS 2nd place, South Effingham HS 3rd place, Coffee County HS 4th place, and Henry County HS 5th place.
