On April 1, the CA-954 Wildcat Drill Team attended the 2015 Norcal Drill Meet held at Consumnes Oaks High School.

About 9 JROTC programs attended this drill meet to represent their high school. Each unit represents a different branch of the military including Air Force, Army, Navy and Marine Corps. The drill teams dedicated the past months to prepare for this drill competition from studying uniform information, rifle spinning and drilling the same routine over and over again for hours. But all of the JROTC programs have one goal to place first overall and take home the Sweepstakes trophy.

Typically, each unit consists of an Armed team, Unarmed team and one or more Color Guard. Points from different categories for each team are added up to determine who gets 1st, 2nd or 3rd place, which then counts for the Sweepstakes trophy. The categories in the Armed and Unarmed team include the inspection phase, regulation drill and the exhibition routine. The Color Guard consists of inspection and regulation drill.

Preparation for the drill meet can be frustrating and time consuming. The CA-954 drill team succeeded on their overall mission to bring home the Sweepstakes trophy.

“We worked really hard the past five months and we are extremely glad on how it went. I am really proud of how the entire team did,” Jonathan Toussaint said.

The CA-954 drill team was able to bring home eight 1st place trophies, three 2nd place trophies, and even 3 medallions from the Unarmed Drill Down.

“I was on the Unarmed drill team and as a team we did really well. We placed 1st in exhibition, regulation, and inspection,” Karissa Castueras said.

Although this year’s mission to bring home the Sweepstakes trophy has been completed, the CA-954 Wildcats are already preparing for next year’s Titan and Norcal Drill Meet.

“Our hard work over the past five months really paid off in the end as we bonded as a team. I am extremely proud of how we performed and I can’t wait for next year,” Ethan Nelson said.

by KATELENE GONZALO