JROTC cadets shine

February 9, 2016
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Wa-Hi cadets win big at Oregon drill and marksmanship meet
Cadets from the Walla Walla High School JROTC “Blue Devil” Cadet Battalion traveled to La Pine, Oregon January 23 to compete in a Cascade Mountain League drill meet. They competed in Marksmanship and Drill meet last weekend and brought home several awards for their efforts.

Cadets from the Walla Walla High School Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps took several top honors in individual and team categories. The Blue Devil Battalion competed against 11 other schools and more than 350 Cadets in 8 different competition categories.

“Our Cadets worked hard and competed well and earned trophies, medals and ribbons for their efforts,” said retired Army Lt. Col. Bill Bialozor, who coaches the Walla Walla drill teams and serves as Senior Army Instructor for the Wa-Hi JROTC program. “Among the many categories where our students excelled, for example, Cadet 1st Lt. Adam Grau came home with 1st place for his performance in the individual armed exhibition drill."

Additional honors earned at the event: include Unarmed Drill Team took 3rd place and Cadet Capt. Meagan Dodd took 2nd place for Unarmed Drill Team Commander. The Armed Drill Team took 5th place and Cadet Sgt Maj. Savannah Brown took 4th place for Armed Drill Team Commander. Color Guard 2 took 2nd place. Battalion Executive Officer (XO) Cadet Maj. Zachary Cobb taking 6th in the male category of the fitness test.

“My Color guard performed very well and again came away as one of the top teams in the league” said Color Guard One commander Cadet Maj. Zach Cobb. Unarmed Drill team Commander Cadet Capt. Meagan Dodd said “I am so proud of the way my team did today. We really performed our routine in unison and earned that exhibition top spot.”

The Wa-Hi “Blue Devil” Cadet Battalion competes in drill and ceremony and marksmanship meets in Washington and Oregon around the region. The second to last meet near the end of next month will take place at East Valley in Yakima, Wash. Six of the eight teams have already qualified for the league championship meet in March and hope to earn the last two spots for the last two teams in Yakima.