Orienteering Team
Fort Yargo Orienteering Meet, February 24, 2008
The Parkview Orienteers hit the trails with their maps and compasses at an unfamiliar Fort Yargo State Park on Sunday. The weather was a bit nippy and cloudy in the morning, but we ended up with beautiful day to stroll or sprint through the woods.
We are trying to encourage new members to come and check out orienteering to see if they might like to join us. We had five brand new Panthers on the trail having a go with the map and compasses.
Cadets Jackie Bennett and Melissa Quartarone, who usually can be found on the drill field or the rifle range, respectively, came out to see how much fun Orienteering can be. Miss Amy has been trying to recruit some young ladies to the team and may have found two great new orienteering enthusiasts. She has been trying to recruit Miss Bennett to the sport for years. Cadets Bennett and Quartarone teamed up with fellow Cadets Aaron Knight and John Williams to finish handily on the White (beginner) course. Looking for a little more challenge, they later “introduced” the fun and exciting sport of Orienteering to Gunny David Erwin and helped him navigate the longer and harder Yellow (novice) course. We certainly were glad when we saw their three smiling faces returning safely from the treacherous Yellow trail.
Cadet Louie Roger may have won the prize for “bringing” in the most new people for the day, with a whopping total of 15! Admittedly, they included his dad, Captain Jim Roger, and his 12 Navy Cadets, our friends and neighbors from nearby Stone Mountain High School. In addition to the 13 Navy men, Louie brought along his big sister, an accomplished athlete, in her own right, earlier as a Parkview runner and now as a UGA rower. Louie also brought his friend, freshman Noah Tucker, who hopefully will be soon joining the “civilian” side of the Parkview Orienteering Team. I believe that Cadet Roger must have set some sort of record: he had very impressive times on the White, the Yellow, AND the Orange courses, in ONE day!!! Go Louie!!
Even Miss Amy recruited two friends and fellow Five Forks teachers, Ann and Toni who tried their hands at White and Yellow.
Of course, most of the old regulars were there, too. In addition to Roger, Cadets Billy Gauspohl, Aaron Knight, Robert Romaine, and John Williams did quite a bit of maneuvering around the woods on Sunday, as well. Williams finished the Green Course in short order and ended up finishing first. Williams may have needed a rear view mirror because Gauspohl was very close behind, easily taking second place. These two boys may have found themselves a little bit bored of Green and are thinking about giving the very long and very challenging Red course a try. Kudos to the two of them!
Cadet Knight tried his hand at Green on Sunday and turned in a very impressive run. He certainly made the Green course look easy. Good job, Mr. Knight!
Cadet Rob Romaine put away the Orange course easily finishing within a few minutes of the second place runner. (Note to Romaine and others: Ignore the time of the first place Orange finisher. She was running Orange, which is way below her level. She’s typically a Green/Red runner.) Well done, Mr. Romaine!
Miss Amy and Cadet Williams assisted Meet Director Bill Cheatum in setting up and taking down control points and doing a bit of instruction on the side.
Thanks to Mr. Bob Gauspohl, who drove most of the cadets to and from the park. Mr. Gauspohl also assisted with checking controls in the morning and with the orienteering instruction in the afternoon. He went out on both the White and Yellow courses assisting a new orienteer with the map and compass.
We would like to, once again, welcome newcomers Melissa Quartarone, Jackie Bennett, and Noah Tucker to the Greatest Sport on Earth. We certainly hope to be seeing more of them at future meets. They would make great additions to the Parkview Panthers Orienteering Team.
And last, but not least, we were very happy to see Gunny hit the trails with the Orienteering team. You know, he didn’t get lost on Yellow. Maybe he should think about moving up to Orange.
Good job Panthers. Good job.
We will see you at FDR on March 9. Be sure to bring a friend!
Please put the Fort Yargo Canoe-O on your calendar for June 8. It should be great fun!
Orienteering is a little-known Scandinavian sport requiring both physical ability and mental acuity. It involves running a race through the woods using a very detailed map and a precision compass. Orange and white nylon markers are placed in certain locations in the woods. Runners have to determine the best route to make their way from point to point along the course in the shortest amount of time.
In January, seven MCJROTC Cadets competed in the two-day Southeastern Inter-Scholastic Orienteering Championships. The race was held at Mistletoe State Park and was followed by a third day of Extreme Orienteering which involved using a variety of maps, crossing rivers on rope bridges, and maneuvering through muddy lake beds. The cadets were John Dolan, Billy Gauspohl, Aaron Knight, Louie Roger, Robert Romaine, John Williams, and Brad Wilson. Louie Roger finished well and John Williams finished in first place in the Varsity Level of the Southeastern Inter-Scholastic Championships.
Over the Presidents’ Day weekend, John Williams went to Texas to compete in the Texas Stampede & National Inter-Scholastic Orienteering Championships. He ran in the Junior Varsity level against a group of 81 competitors. The competition consisted of two days of running through the rolling hillsides of the Texas landscape, while jumping over ditches and fighting through the briars, trying to keep ahead of other competitors. John put in an impressive time of 40 minutes flat on the challenging 5 km (3 mile) course on the first day. The course proved to be a little more rugged on the second day. Cadet Williams again finished first with a time of just under 53 minutes, clenching the National Junior Varsity Title and taking the Individual Gold Medal out of the grasp of the very motivated young Texans! There were high school students competing in the race from Washington State, California, Virginia, Delaware, Alabama, many from various Texas cities, and one sole competitor from Georgia. The Georgia Orienteering Club and the Parkview MCJROTC program are very proud that John Williams claimed the National Inter-Scholastic Junior Varsity title and brought it back to Lilburn, Georgia!
The cost to each cadet is $100. This fee will fund the majority of the expenses for the year.
Current Schedule (subject to verification of dates)
- Scoutland, August 25-26, 2007
- Jones Bridge National "O", September 15, 2007
- Bert Adams, October 7, 2007
- Watson Mill, October 21, 2007
- Cochran Mill, October 27, 2007
- Sweetwater Creek, November, 18, 2007
- Pickett's Mill, December 2, 2007
- SE InterScholastics, January 19-21, 2008
- Pallisades West Atlanta, Sunday, Feb 3, 2008
- Gold Branch Atlanta, Sunday, Feb 17, 2008
- Ft Yargo Winder, Sunday, Feb 24, 2008
- Joe Kurz N of Macon, Sunday, March 2, 2008
- FDR Warm Springs, GA, Sat & Sun, Mar 8 & 9, 2008
- Vickery Creek Roswell, Sunday, March 30, 2008
- Sweetwater, Sunday, April 6, 2008
- Dausett Trails South of Atlanta, Saturday, April 19, 2008
- McIntosh, Sunday, May 18, 2008
- Canoe-O Ft Yargo Winder, Sunday, June 8, 2008