FS_021617

4 | February 16, 2017 | The frankfort station News
frankfortstation.com
Griffins finish first in three competitions
East tops armed
events at Central Air
Force JROTC meet
Frank Gogola
Freelance Reporter
Lincoln-Way Central senior
Vincent Senese wasn’t
going to let his final home invite
go by without displaying
the skill he had been working
on since his junior year.
Senese wowed the crowd,
fellow competitors and
judges when he closed out
his armed solo routine by
performing with a rifle and a
saber simultaneously for the
first time ever in competition.
“This being my home
meet, I had to give it my absolute
all because you’re representing
your school at your
own school,” said Senese, the
lone solo or duet competitor
to use a saber. “You have to
bring your best. That’s what I
intended on doing.”
His performance was one
of two event victories for
Central, which earned its first
first-place finish of the season
at the four-team South-
West Suburban Conference
invite Feb. 6 in New Lenox.
Central, a combined team
of students from Central
and Lincoln-Way West, led
all teams with 6,342 points.
Lincoln-Way East was right
behind at 6,322 and Lockport
placed third with 5,893
points.
This was the final tune-up
before the SWSC championship
meet in a season that has
been a learning process for
both the instructors and the
teams. There were originally
eight SWSC teams, but that
number dropped from six last
year to four this season.
The teams now have only
two regular-season conference
invites instead of four.
The championship meet had
“It’s all about
teamwork,
precision and
concentration.”
Sgt. Dale Steen —
East’s JROTC instructor,
on what makes a successful
team
included points earned during
the conference season,
but this year’s champion will
be decided by who is the best
at the one-day event. The
SWSC championship meet
will be Feb. 25 at Bolingbrook.
“It’s a totally different
ballgame,” said Maj. Steve
Brown, Lockport’s JROTC
instructor. “You used to come
to each school, accumulate
points to make a difference.
Now, it’s getting your teams
experience and comfortable
with routines to be razor
sharp for that one day.”
“We treat these meets as
competitive practices for the
conference championship,”
said retired Col. George
Ramey, Central’s JROTC
instructor. “Through all of
these events, the JROTC
drills develop unity, teamwork
and discipline.”
The varsity teams compete
in nine events: unarmed infantry
drill regulation (IDR),
armed IDR, unarmed exhibition,
armed exhibition, color
guard, inspection, unarmed
duet, armed solo and armed
duet. In armed events, competitors
use approved performance
weapons, mainly
rifles. In IDR events, competitors
all perform the same
specific routine, while teams
in exhibitions get to create
their own routines.
The SWSC decided not to
host armed inspection and
Lincoln-Way East’s Armed Infantry Drill Regulation (IDR) team (left to right) Gus Morales, James Ingram and Tim Lutz
perform Feb. 6 during a meet at Lincoln-Way Central. Photos by Adam Jomant/22nd Century Media
unarmed color guard this
year. It did add unarmed duet
after Joliet Central and Joliet
West left the conference,
because the four remaining
teams are all Air Force
JROTC programs.
“We’re doing that because
since we’re all Air Force and
want to get to (AFJROTC)
Nationals, and we don’t
want to have a separate set of
SWSC rules and sequences,”
Ramey said.
Having all AFJROTC
teams streamlines the scoring
because each service branch
drills, marches and executes
commands differently.
“It’s all about teamwork,
precision and concentration,”
said Sgt. Dale Steen, East’s
JROTC instructor.
Senese highlighted Central’s
first-place finish by
winning the armed solo
Please see JROTC, 5 Lincoln-Way East’s Armed IDR team won the Feb. 6 drill meet.