Nease Navy JROTC’s varsity drill team won in Personnel Inspection, Academics and Athletics to take home the championship at the Mandarin High School NJROTC sanctioned drill meet Nov. 18 in Jacksonville, beating out 11 other units from Northern Florida and Georgia.
With the victory, Nease has secured its slot in the Area-12 Drill Championship to be held in Douglas, Georgia, on March 3, 2018, where they will attempt to defend their title as three-time defending Area-12 Drill Champions.
In addition to claiming the overall trophy, Nease picked up first-place trophies for Personnel Inspection, Academics, Overall Athletics, Armed Basic Drill, Push-ups and Sit-ups. The team also placed second in the 16 x 100 Relay and third in Overall Drill, Armed Basic Drill and the 8 x 200 Relay.
“We won today, but we recognize we have so many areas to improve,” Battalion Commander Krista Ecker said. “After Thanksgiving break, it’ll be daily practice as we start prepping for our next competition at Terry Parker.”
Several cadets took home individual medals for exceptional performance. Lilly Short, Mac Davis, Erin Sass and Scott Cummings won first place in Female Sit-ups, Male Push-ups, Female Push-ups and Academics, respectively.
“Our senior class has qualified for the National Drill Championship the past three years, and our focus is making it back again in April,” said Davis, a senior. “We’ve got an ‘all hands on deck’ mentality of working hard together.”
Other top schools in the competition were South Effingham High School (second place), Middleburg High School (third place), Terry Parker High School (fourth place) and Coffee County High School (fifth place).
The event marked Nease’s fifth consecutive championship win at Mandarin. The drill team will similarly attempt to claim its fifth title in a row at Terry Parker’s Sanctioned Drill Meet on Dec. 9.
