The Greenville High School Navy Junior ROTC team competed at the Texas State Championship on February 26th and 27th. The annual state meet held in College Station consisted of the top Navy Junior ROTC units from across the state of Texas. The championship included competition in armed and unarmed regulation drills, armed and unarmed exhibition drills, color guard, physical fitness, and academics.
Greenville High School placed 13th overall and enjoyed some very impressive individual and team results. Of particular note, the Greenville unarmed exhibition drill team, lead by team commander Destiny Myers-Wise, earned the third place trophy. The elaborate unarmed performance electrified the crowd as the all-female team flawlessly executed the routine that won them a place on the podium.
Individual honors went to McKenzie Stone for fifth place in female push-ups and Bradley Butcher for fourth place in curl-ups. Being only the second time at the state tournament in the history of the Greenville program, the teams performed admirably in both the physical fitness and drill portions of the event. The Championship included fierce competition among the various schools with the margin between a high finish and lower score being extremely close in many events.
Greenville competed well in the aggressively judged championship, and although did not advance to Nationals, is now poised to come back even stronger in the coming years. “Making it to the tournament was an accomplishment in itself, placing us in the elite sixteen programs in the state,” said Lieutenant Commander Larry Wilcock, the newly established Senior Naval Science Instructor for the unit. He added, “We could not be more proud of our cadets and look forward to next year when a majority of them will be returning and looking to improve their standing at State.”
The NJROTC program at Greenville High School is led by Lieutenant Commander Wilcock and Naval Science Instructor, Chief Quandrell Stephens. For more information about the program, please contact LCDR Wilcock at wilcockl@greenvilleisd.com.
