At this year's annual Ranger Challenge:

NU teams set records; take third and 13th places overall

By Kylee Dalmata
Norwich Guidon Staff Writer

Five government vans pulled to the side of the road and opened their doors. Immediately, 20 men in camouflage military Battle Dress Uniforms rushed out and disappeared into the woods. Onlookers stood open-mouthed.

After recent events, this could have been some well-orchestrated government action of homeland defense.

However, it was the Norwich Ranger Challenge teams making a pit stop while lost en-route to the annual Ranger Challenge competition in Devens, Mass, on Oct 19.

Schools participating in the Challenge were Boston U, Canisius, Clarkson, Cornell, MIT, Niagara, NEU, Norwich, Providence, RIT, Siena. St. Bonaventure, Suny Brockport, Syracuse, U of Connecticut, U of Maine, U of Mass, UNH, URI, UVM, and WPI.

The weekend’s events were the final test for the two 10-member teams, for which they have been training since the beginning of the 2001-02 academic year.

“We trained really hard for this,” said Chris Bigott, 20, a sophomore sports medicine major form Rockville, Md., and a member of Bravo team. “I was really motivated about the whole weekend. Even though we didn’t do as well as we expected to, the event went pretty well; I was motivated.”

Despite injuries on both teams, Norwich competed in every event, setting records in some, and in many, “blowing the competition out of the water.”

The competition started at 4:15 a.m. Saturday morning with first call. The teams ate and prepared for the first event, the physical fitness test (PFT) that began at 5:30 a.m.. The Army PFT includes two minutes of pushups, two minutes of sit-ups and a two-mile run.

Alpha team’s average PFT score was a 355, surpassing the test maximum of 300. Bravo’s average was a 320. Only one challenger failed to surpass the maximum.

Each PFT event is graded on a point scale, which is determined by the number of repetitions completed in the pushup and sit-up events, and the time taken to complete the run. All nine members of a team, and their alternate compete, and the scores are averaged to determine a winner.

Following the PFT, teams were given until 8:25 a.m. to move out for the day’s cycle of events. Tensions ran high as teams tried to get in the right state of mind for their next event.

Each team followed their own sequence in completing events. Alpha team ran Basic Rifle Marksmanship (BRM), then weapons disassembly/reassembly, followed by obstacle course, one-rope bridge, patrolling exam, and finally the orienteering course.

Bravo team’s schedule began with the one-rope bridge, and then the patrolling exam, followed by orienteering, BRM, weapons disassembly/reassembly, and finished with the obstacle course.

Norwich’s Alpha team set a new record of six minutes fourteen seconds in the one-rope bridge event, winning first place.

The event consists of securing a rope line between trees across a sixty-foot gap, and moving all members across that line without allowing any equipment to touch the ground. The event is preformed twice, with the two times added and penalties added on for mistakes.

Both Norwich teams excelled in the weapons disassembly/reassembly. Alpha finished with a total time of thirteen minutes twenty seconds, Bravo in thirteen forty-two, despite two minute penalties for both teams.

Teams began at the start line, 30 meters from their weapon. After running to the disassembly area, they took the rifle apart, put it back together, ran a systems check and sprinted back to the start line. Individual times were added for the team total.

For the final event, the obstacle course, Bravo team had to switch in their alternate, Asper, to replace an injured James Bithorn.

“I’m really mad that I couldn’t push myself any farther,” Bithorn said.

Saturday’s events ended at 7 p.m. with a barbeque and some much needed rest.

Sunday morning began at 5 a.m., with one event left to run in the competition, the ruck run. Norwich team members were “bouncing off the walls” in anticipation.

“We had way too much energy,” said Peter Seils, 21, a junior criminal justice major from Harrisburg, NY, on Bravo team.

Start times for the ruck run were staggered so that teams would not get in each other’s way during the run. Teams in last place began first. Of the 25 teams competing, Alpha was third, and Bravo was thirteenth. It was decided that Ben Owen would replace David Douchkoff on Alpha to prevent an already injured knee from worsening.

The teams used all the extra time they could find to pump each other up.

"It’s one hour of PT, just one hour,” Pellerin, 19, an Alpha team junior criminal justice major from Methune Mass said to the team. “We can all do one hour. Come on, just smoke it.”

“Its one hour of pain, a lifetime of glory; take it home,” said Richard Jones, 20, an Alpha team junior majoring in criminal justice from Bethlehem, Penn., spurring his team mates on.

Alpha broke their record from last year, winning the 10K hump in a record time of 59:00.02, four seconds in front of second place Boston University.

Bravo finished with an official time of 1:08:00.00, despite the twisting of team member Jason Gordon’s ankle during the run. Bravo team disputes their official time and claims they finished the event six minutes faster.

The weekend concluded with a ceremony, where all 25 teams assembled to receive their awards.

Alpha team was awarded three first place event trophies, and an overall third place trophy. Bravo finished in thirteenth place overall. First place went to Boston University.

The Norwich teams motivated each other throughout the day.

“We went to stand with Bravo whenever we got the time before and between events,” said Michael Phelan, 20, Alpha team’s token junior accounting major from Beverly, Mass.

Throughout the day and the ceremony, many teams shouted the traditional Army ‘Hooah’ in encouragement and acknowledgement. The Norwich teams, however, remained silent.

“‘Hooah’ is supposed to be very motivating,” according to Bigott. “It was totally abused at the competition, and we wanted to show that actions are louder than words. We just went out there and proved ourselves. If we couldn’t, then we didn’t deserve to talk, anyway.”

According to Anthony Palermo, 21, a criminal justice major from Brockton, Mass., Alpha team’s only senior and team captain, this was a demonstration to the other teams of a Norwich principle.

“We have a little thing at Norwich that we like to call ‘quiet professionalism’, Sir,” Palermo said in explanation to the Army Colonel in charge of the competition, who had asked why the teams weren’t shouting their encouragement.

In reflection, many team members believe that their performance was less than they had hoped for.

“If anything, we should have eased off on the training and let ourselves recover a little, first,” Bigott said. “We’re going to train a lot harder for next year; we know what to expect, and we are only losing one senior. I see a lot more intensity in years to come.”

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