VIRGINIA BEACH — Local high school students won first place after they faced the country’s top 24 Navy Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps units in academic, atheltic and drill competitions.
Green Run placed first in the 2017 NJROTC Nationals Academic, Athletic and Drill Championship in Pensacola, Fla. on April 7 and 8.
Navy commander Curtis Brown and retired Marine Corps First Sergeant Felix Robles led the unit of high school cadets.
In addition to scoring the grand prize, the Green Run NJROTC unit also managed to take home eight trophies in different categories.
They won first place in an armed exhibition drill, first place in overall drill, second place in sit ups, fourth place in academics, among others, according to a Virginia Beach City Public Schools news release.
The unit is comprised of cadets from Green Run High School and Green Run Collegiate, and some of them received individual recognition, the release said.
Cadets like GRHS senior Zachary Horton received a fifth-place male individual honor for 118 push ups and GRC junior Aminah Jones received a ninth-place female individual honor for 239 sit ups, according to the release.
Green Run NJROTC got the chance to compete nationally after winning a regional qualifier in March against NJROTC units from schools in Virginia, Maryland and Washington D.C. It was Green Run’s fifth consecutive year winning the qualifier, according to the release.
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