Nease NJROTC’s varsity drill team extended its winning streak of Jacksonville area drill competitions, winning the Terry Parker Drill Meet on December 12 in Jacksonville. Nease has now won six straight Navy northern Florida drill meets covering the past three years.
Nease won the Mandarin NJROTC Drill Meet earlier this fall. In 2013 & 2014, Nease swept both the Mandarin and Terry Parker drill meet championships beating out 11 other NJROTC challengers from northern Florida, southern and central Georgia in each competition.
Nease is currently the #1 ranked NJROTC unit in the nation.
“We needed the entire 40 cadet team’s best effort today,” said Cadet Battalion Commander Zach Yearwood. “We feel a bit like the New England Patriots – each week our competition takes their best shot at knocking us off, but we’re still standing.”
In addition to claiming the top overall trophy, Nease picked up first place trophies for Personnel Inspection, Academics, Athletics, Unarmed Exhibition Drill, Push Ups, and Sit Ups.
With its earlier victory at Mandarin, Nease has already secured a spot in the 16-team Navy Area 12 Drill Championships to be held on March 6 in central Georgia. Before that, the team will travel to Tallahassee next month to compete at the Florida A&M University NJROTC Drill Meet.
Several Nease cadets received individual medals during the competition. Cadets Dane Barber and Zach Yearwood received recognition for Academics; cadets Christopher Babcock, Brian Swicegood and Marcus Sanders for Push Ups; and cadets Lily Short, Erin Sass, Cali Vaughn, Jerry Xiang and Mac Davis for Sit Ups. .
“I’ve been doing this a long time (13 years),” said Nease’s Naval Science Instructor Master Chief John Duffy. “These young men and women always seem to step up to the challenge.”
Other top schools in the competition were Middleburg HS 2nd place, Cross Creek HS 3rd place, Coffee County HS 4th place, and Mandarin HS 5th place.
