The Marion High School JROTC Raider team is state runner-up after a hard-fought competition at Camp Atterbury.
The contest, featuring the top 17 Raider teams from across the state, took place on Oct. 5 at the National Guard training facility Camp Atterbury, was hosted by Indiana University-Indianapolis’s ROTC program.
The Giants battled throughout the day, going back and forth with Hobart, the eventual winner. The Brickies jumped out to a quick two-event lead, but the Giants fought back, taking the next two events. The championship came down to the final event of the day, the gauntlet. The Brickies ran the course first, with the Giants the final team of the day. The Giants fell just four seconds short of the time the Brickies turned in.
Marion JROTC Raiders run toward the finish line during the 5K event at the state championship on Oct. 5, 2024, at Camp Atterbury. The varsity team finished the event second out of 17 teams.
MHS Raider team captain Kylar Pettus was very pleased with his team’s performance.
“We did our best but fell just a little short, ” he said. “The team now needs to focus on the Hobart meet this coming weekend.”
Ten cadets (four female and six male) work as a team on each event. At the state championship, events were:
- Constructing and crossing a one-rope bridge across a span of about 40 feet.
- Gauntlet: traverse a a half-mile run that includes several obstacles while carrying 35-pound backpacks and two 50-pound ammo crates.
- 5K run (3.1 miles)
- Physical team test: an all-out sprint for less than half a mile that includes climbing, crawling, and carrying heavy items.
- Cross country rescue: 800-meter run simulating the evacuation of a wounded person on a litter/stretcher weighing 140 pounds. Participants also carry 35-pound backpacks and have to crawl under obstacles and scale walls of various heights along the route.
MHS JROTC cadets pose with their trophy at the state championship on Oct. 5, 2024, at Camp Atterbury.
Raider team coach Col. Gary Blagburn (retired) expressed pride in the cadets’ work.
“The competition challenges the cadets not just physically, but mentally as well,” he said. “They need to assess each event and determine the best approach. These cadets are excellent athletes who sacrifice and work hard to achieve excellence on the competition field. They did not finish first overall, but they did well.”
Varsity team members were: Grace Carpenter, Nicholas Easter, Andersson Guevara Henriquez, Nely Guevara-Henriquez, Angel Antonio Maya, Evelynn Lopez Gomez, Hickson Love, Anthony O’Neil, Alex Ortiz, Justin Peters, Kylar Pettus, Danielle Purdy, Nicholas Purdy.
The MHS JROTC’s JV team took the fourth place award overall at the state championship, defeating varsity teams from several other schools.
The JV team is led by Cadet Esteban Santiago, an MHS sophomore.
“We did really well at this meet,” Santiago said. “I am proud of how the team finished. We improved this year to a fourth place finish, up from the previous year’s fifth place.”
JV team members were: Keira Boyd, Liam Carpenter, Logan Davis, Ethan Doyle, Havanah Humphrey, Caydon Nation, Kate Nguyen, Jevon Nixon, Kaiden Pettus, Atreyu Parker, Adelia Santiago Stricler, Esteban Santiago Stricler, Donna Webb.
The MHS JROTC Raider JV team competes in the physical team test event at the state championship Oct. 5, 2024, at Camp Atterbury.
The MHS JROTC Raiders are looking forward to a rematch with their rival Hobart next week, and later a trip to Raider Nationals.
That trip to nationals is expensive, with the lodging, food and transportation costs. Anyone interested in helping with the cost of this trip can mail donations to the JROTC Department at the high school, or make a donation online here.