This past weekend Ripon High held their 4th annual JROTC drill competition. They held Unarmed Platoon, inspection, colorguard, and exhibition as well as Armed Platoon, inspection, colorguard, and exhibition.

 Ripon, in total, earned five first place trophies, two second place trophies, and one third place trophy. They also earned the Unarmed overall and overall competition trophy. Unarmed events besides exhibition and color guard were commanded by Bailey Gillihan, the unarmed team commander, who got first in both events. 

“I’m very proud of my team overall. We worked very hard for the trophies we earned and I was in tears by the end because of how well we were doing,” said Gillihan. 

She stated how there is always room for improvement and time to practice the little things. Gillihan also won the Leadership Education Training (LET) 3 and 4 drill down in first place. LET stands for how many years you have been a part of a JROTC program.

Unarmed exhibition was commanded by Jasmein Kaur who is the unarmed exhibition commander and she also placed first. Unarmed colorguard was led by Tyler Reiseck, the JV color guard commander who placed second. Armed platoon was led by Morgan West, the armed team commander who placed first.

“Armed did extremely well in the way that we worked as a team and performed like we had practiced despite the pressure of Ripon being the host,” said West. 

She indicated how armed team mainly needs to practice on the technicality of their performance. Armed inspection was commanded by Faith Harvey, a LET 1 on armed team and placed second. The Armed Color guard was led by Daniel Ochoa, the varsity color guard commander who placed first. Armed exhibition was led by Haydn Carrick, the Armed Exhibition commander and they placed third.