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News Release

Last modified: Tuesday, November 18, 2008

IU ROTC wins first place in the Ranger Challenge for third consecutive year

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NOV. 18, 2008

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- For the third consecutive year, the Indiana University Army ROTC won first place in both the 9-Man and the 5-Man divisions of the ninth ROTC Brigade 2008 Ranger Challenge Competition held Oct. 24-26 at Camp Atterbury, Ind.

The competition is an annual event designed to challenge cadets both mentally and physically as well as enhance leadership and develop team cohesion and healthy competition between ROTC battalions. The competing teams came from schools in Indiana, Michigan and Illinois.

IU Army ROTC also had an all women team this year. Team members included: Julie Fulton, Christine Blum, Grace Geiger, Amanda Kress, Maria Marcum and Katelyn Sanders. They were one of seven all women teams competing in this year's challenge.

Teams competed in a variety of challenging events: the HMMWV (Humvee) pull, causualty evacuation, a first-aid practical exercise, constructing a rope bridge, disassembly and reassembly of the M16A2, the Army Physical Fitness test, day and night land navigation, the Army Obstacle Course and a 10-kilometer road march.

"Our perennial winning at Ranger Challenge is a not only a great retention feature, it continues to be one of the biggest draws for recruiting high-quality high school and college students into our program," said Maj. Todd Tinius, APMS, Scholarship and Enrollment Officer in the IU ROTC.

IU Air Force ROTC Detachment 215 also participated in the Ranger Challenge as the lone Air Force team in the competition. They finished ahead of nine army teams and recieved third in the rope bridge competition, second in the Sergeant Major Challenge and fifth in the 10-kilometer road march. Team members included: Bradley Yuska, Christian Litscher, Carter Vanworth, Tyler Witt, Bryan Gant, Julian Londono-Villa, Donald Chambers, Alex Miller and Phil Cinal.

All cadets in good academic standing are invited to take part in the annual Ranger Challenge. Competitors train five times a week and sometimes on the weekends, separate from the rest of the battalion. It is for this intense training and dedication that cadets participating in the Ranger Challenge also earn an IU Varsity Athletic Letter.

Second Lt. Nate Tiffany, Sgt. First Class Mendez Frith, Second Lt. Chris Arnett, Second Lt. Pat Corbett, Lt. Col. Henry Banker and Lt. Col. Eric Arnold helped prepare the Army ROTC cadets for this grueling competition.

"We organized all of the morning workouts, worked out with the cadets and taught them the critical tasks that go along with the challenge," said Arnett.

IU Army ROTC managers were Stephen Szorm and Evan Humphey. Team members included:

9-Man A-Team
Capt. Trent Sutterfield
Nick Bowers
Zac Waninger
Kevin Pavinca
Nick Banich
Andrew Roberts
Chris Gambil
Andrew Baer
Jimmy Hodges
Brandon Landes

9-Man B-Team
Capt. Patrick Bradley
Matt Golubski
Kevin Dobbyn
James Gordon
Chris Moffo
Dan Martin
Bryan Medena
Matt Ryan
Chris Hahnemann
Brett Foster

9-Man C-Team
Capt. Josh Mitchell
David Knowles
Jimmy Reinhardt
Aaron Johnson
John Rammel
Kaleb Blubaugh
Conner Henne
Thomas Fleming
A.J. Moir
Kyle Whittier

5-Man A-Team
Capt. Jeff Klobucar
J.D. Hala
Andrew Sabolich
Michael Sudzina
Nate Graham
Matt Waechter

5-Man B-Team
Capt. Andrew Keithley
Daniel Benson
Carter Diebold
Jim Thomas
Joel Ng

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