Approximately 4,000 Junior ROTC cadets from across the country competed in the National Raider Challenge at Fort Knox, Kentucky, Oct. 22-25, according to U.S. Army Cadet Command. The event, created in 2023, featured three competitive divisions for cadets at different skill levels.
Cadets completed obstacle courses, ran more than 3 miles, tested their Junior ROTC knowledge and built rope bridges against the clock. The competition included separate divisions for Army, Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard Junior ROTC programs.
Teams that advanced from the masters and all-service divisions faced a final 4.2-mile cross-country course while carrying 102 pounds of equipment through four obstacles. Results from this challenge were combined with earlier competition scores to determine final standings.
"What this competition shows us year after year is that mastery of any challenge is never solitary," Brig. Gen. Sean Crockett, commanding general of U.S. Army Cadet Command, said in closing remarks. "It is fundamentally collective. It is teamwork."
Adairsville High School won first place in the male masters division. Leavenworth High School came in second, and Benedictine Military School in Savannah, Georgia, placed third. Northeast High School in St. Petersburg, Florida, won the female division, and Walker High School's Marine Corps Junior ROTC program won the mixed division.