Navy Jr. ROTC Cadets Earn Orienteering and Other Awards

Guthrie-Spring Branch 2016-17 Orienteering Team

Navy Jr. ROTC cadets from the district’s Guthrie Center returned from contests in orienteering, group drills, academics and personal physical fitness with top awards recently. Two notable cadet competitions were held during February:

Stubblefield Orienteering Meet

Twelve cadets competed in the annual Stubblefield Orienteering Meet held Feb 18-19. The meet, hosted by the Houston Orienteering Club, was held near Stubblefield Campground, north of Lake Conroe in the Sam Houston National Forest.

The Stubblefield Orienteering competition is considered a rigorous event due to the denseness of the Sam Houston National Forest. This recent two-day meet served as the Navy Jr. ROTC Area 10 Orienteering Championship.

Three SBISD high school cadets earned age group medals at the campground meet. Orienteering is a competitive sport in which players, or orienteers, use an accurate, detailed map and a compass to find points in a particular meet landscape.

SBISD cadets earning top recognitions included:

• Daisy Baltazar, Northbrook High sophomore, first in 16-year-old females;
• Chance Moberly, Stratford High junior, third in 18-year-old males; and
• Dennis Lopez, Spring Woods High sophomore, fourth in 16-year-old males.

Other Guthrie Center cadets who competed in the orienteering event were Anthony Condon, senior, and Devin Williams, junior, both of Spring Woods High; Elba De La Rosa and Pedro Quiroz, seniors; Syrah Bamaca and Megan Olvera, juniors; and Megan Olvera, sophomore, all of Northbrook High; Brandon Hancock, sophomore, Stratford High; and Chris Barron, junior, Westchester Academy for International Studies.

A standard orienteering course consists of a starting point, a series of control sites marked by circles and connected by lines, and numbered in the order to be visited, plus a finish point.

On the ground, a control flag marks the location that the orienteer must visit. To verify a visit, an orienteer uses a punch hanging next to the flag to mark a card. Different punches make separate patterns of holes in the paper. The route between control flags isn’t specified, and is entirely up to the orienteer – this element of route choice and ability to navigate through the forest landscape are orienteering key elements.

Cadets relax after Saturday competition.

Drill, Academics and Physical Fitness

Twenty-seven cadets competed Feb. 11 at Spring High School in drill, academics and physical fitness against nine other area Jr. ROTC programs from the Houston and Beaumont areas. The cadets took first place in both physical fitness and color guard drill, and placed third in academics.

First place medals were awarded for pushups to Pedro Quiroz, a Northbrook High senior, and Lauren Rodela, a junior at Spring Woods High. Also awarded the first place medal was Spring Woods High junior Azucena Gonzales for sit ups. 

Third place medals for sit ups were also awarded to Spring Woods High seniors Anthony Condon and Dennis Lopez. 

The next cadet competition will be held March 25 at the Caney Creek Top Gun Field Meet at Caney Creek High School. 

The Guthrie-Spring Branch Navy Jr. ROTC is an elective citizenship development and leadership program available to all Spring Branch ISD high school students.

SBISD cadets are led by U.S. Navy Retired Commander Jerry Coufal and Navy Master Chief Retired Petty Officer Mark Heuser.