JROTC unit takes best shot at home

The Oak Harbor High School JROTC unit took home team and individual honors at the Northwest Drill and Rifle Conference it hosted over the weekend.

Thirteen teams from all over the Puget Sound region came to the high school when Oak Harbor hosted a competition that featured color guard, armed and unarmed drill teams, rifle teams and physical strength teams.

Oak Harbor’s color guard placed third, the unarmed drill team placed second and the armed drill team placed sixth.

Two teams also competed in the rifle competition and physical strength competition. The rifle teams placed first and second while the physical strength teams placed second and fourth.

A number of Oak Harbor students garnered individual honors during the nearly 12-hour event. In shooting, Wes Marks placed first and Thomas Chandler placed second in the Master category; Kasey Kenworthy placed first, Tabitha Rivera placed third and Corey Schulz placed fifth in the Expert category; Dylan Balduc placed first and Justin Jansen placed third in the Sharpshoot category; and Thomas Schroeder placed first in the Marksman category.

Boys and girls physical strength teams earned individual awards as well. For the boys, Liam Roddy took second, Jake Ford took third, Cole O’Dell took fifth and Josh Lamb took seventh. For the girls, Amanda Willette took second, Emily Cane took third, Arianna Cane took eighth and Jessica VanOort took tenth. Participants do push ups and sit ups for two minutes and then run a mile.

Kelsey Adair placed first in the unarmed drill down.

Last weekend’s event was the first time in three years that Oak Harbor High School hosted such a competition.