Navy students tossed spinning rifles back and forth in a choreographed Z as audience members sat back in silence at the annual Northwest Navy competition hosted by the U during the weekend.
The U’s Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps students received high marks at the rifle and pistol matches Saturday, but at the end of the day, the University of Idaho teamed with Washington State University and took home the overall trophy for the day’s events.
“I loved the fact that when the soldiers, sailors and Marines were out there really exerting themselves, it didn’t matter what school they were for, people were cheering them on,” said Capt. Phillip Kessler, commanding officer of the U’s unit. “I think that really exemplifies the spirit of the competition.”
The competition provided an opportunity for NROTC students from the U, Oregon State University, the University of Washington, the University of Idaho and Washington State University to demonstrate their teamwork capabilities and gave individual students the opportunity to showcase their talents and skills.
Military students participated in 11 events Saturday, including team sports such as basketball and soccer, an academic biathlon and military-specific competitions.
Many participants were excited to compete in the Combat Fitness Test, new to the competition this year. The CFT is a new part of the Marine Corps physical fitness test and consists of three segments, including an 880-yard run, lifting 30-pound ammunition cans from their chins straight up with as many repetitions as possible in two minutes and a 300-yard shuttle run. The shuttle run included low and high crawls, carrying or dragging a buddy, ammunition resupply, grenade throwing and agility running.
Despite the U’s efforts, the University of Washington took home the trophy for the new event.
Students and officers considered the drill competition the most important event because commanding and executive officers look for the incorporated skills in their students. Participants in the regulation drill competition must stand stock-still for long periods of time while officers observe how soldiers conduct themselves, inspecting each detail of the soldier’s appearance from hair to pant length, said Jeff Horgan, a freshman in business at the University of Idaho. Participants also have to answer various military questions about general orders and codes of conduct.
“You have the stress of the drill instructors walking around you, and you hear your buddies next to you getting inspected and the adrenaline starts pumping so it gets harder to maintain your bearings,” Horgan said. After inspection, the groups march in formation, testing their ability to follow shouted direction from a team leader.
Bryce Christensen, a sophomore in economics at the U, participated in last year’s Northwest Navy competition at Oregon State University. He said all the events were held in an indoor football arena, which provided more room than the HPER east gym, where the drill events were held this year.
“Here, a lot of (the events) are indoors, but it’s relatively the same. We try to keep it pretty much the same event, the same style, the same rules,” said Christensen, who competed in the volleyball tournament early Saturday morning. “We could afford to make a mistake at Oregon State, but here, you call it on the wrong foot, you’re going to go out of bounds and so it’s all about timing. The person in charge has to know when to make the call, and has to do it quick. He doesn’t have a lot of time to mess around.”
Besides being a competition, the Northwest Navy event is an opportunity for students to form organizational skills as future officers in the Navy or Marine Corps, and to increase camaraderie between the schools, said 2nd Lt. Isaac Goodrich, the coordinator for this year’s competition.
“It’s also an opportunity for the midshipmen to interact with active duty and midshipmen from other units, so they can understand that they’re not alone here,” Goodrich said. “Salt Lake’s pretty isolated, so it’s good for them to see other people doing the same thing that they’re doing.”
The U has the smallest NROTC unit of the four that competed, with only 59 members. It partnered with the Junior Naval ROTC from West High School, who helped with scoring, set-up and preparing meals.
For listings of all events and final scores, visit www.nrotc.utah.edu/nwn/index.html.
Lennie MahlerAshley Belker, a member of the combined Idaho and Washington State NROTC unit, competes in the Combat Fitness Test event of the Northwest Navy Competition on Saturday at Baliff Field behind the Alumni House. Students from the Utah, Oregon State, Idaho, Washington State, and University of Washington NROTC units competed all day Saturday.