Student-Athletes Shine as Norwich Dominates the Patriot Games

Norwich easily captured first place in the in the Patriot Games, a multiday Senior Military College (SMC) competition held on The Hill in conjunction with the Association of Military Colleges and Schools of the United States (AMCSUS) conference. 

The competition brought together teams from Norwich, Texas A&M University, The Citadel, the University of North Georgia, and Virginia Military Institute (VMI) for a series of events designed to test team cohesion, strength, endurance, decision-making, and military training. 

A Distinct Advantage

Norwich entered with a distinct advantage of a team built primarily of student-athletes. Different sports. Different demands. But many of the same qualities needed when the Patriot Games began. The competition challenged cadets across a wide range of events, including helicopter movements, canoeing, hiking, a stress shoot, and other tests designed to force competitors beyond physical strength alone. 

Norwich University Director of Strength and Conditioning Scott Caulfield, the 2025 National Strength and Conditioning Association Coach of the Year, highlighted a unique advantage:

"It makes me proud to witness the level of commitment and dedication our athletes bring to their training, whether for their sport or a demanding event like the Patriot Games. This demonstrates that our student-athletes are not only in exceptional physical condition, but that their sport-specific training also translates seamlessly to the rigorous demands of tactical events like this one."

The teams had to work together, communicate, and adjust quickly. They had to perform while tired and exhausted. For Norwich’s student-athletes, none of those expectations were unfamiliar. 

Case MacDonald, Noah St. Germaine, James Raymond, and Mason Dils are members of the Norwich men’s lacrosse team. Ally Teitsch competes for Norwich women’s cross country. 

For the four lacrosse players, they understand individual responsibilities within a larger interdependent system. Success can depend on reacting in an instant while knowing the teammates around you will do the same. Teitsch brings a different kind of competitive experience. Distance running is built on endurance and the willingness to continue competing after fatigue has begun to take over. 

A Home-Field Advantage

The opening ceremony and first event were held in the familiar confines of Sabine Field. With an enthusiastic and boisterous home crowd providing the backdrop, the five SMC teams began the competition with a physical training event that immediately put their strength and endurance on display. 

For MacDonald, St. Germaine, Raymond, Dils, and Teitsch, the setting may have been familiar, but the uniforms and competition were different. This time there were no goals to score, saves to make, or a single finish line to cross. They were competing alongside one another for Norwich in a first-of-its-kind competition. 

Men’s lacrosse head coach Dylan Curry echoed the pride felt by many:

"We are very proud of what Case, James, Mason, and Noah achieved. Not only did they represent our program well, but the entire University. The mental and physical toughness they showed during this challenge is exactly what we look for in Norwich men's lacrosse athletes. The positive impact they have had on our program will be felt even long after their time at Norwich is complete."

Completing the Team

The only member of Norwich’s six-person team who was not a varsity student-athlete arrived with an impressive record of achievement of his own. Maximus Compton spent this summer at U.S. Army Cadet Summer Training Advanced Camp at Fort Knox, Kentucky. Compton earned the No. 1 overall position on the Cadet Summer Training Order of Merit List, ranking him as the top cadet among the 5,778 ROTC cadets this summer. 

Another Chapter

Each member of the team had already learned what it means to prepare when no one is watching, to accept responsibility for teammates, and to keep going when strength begins to fade. Those lessons followed them from the lacrosse field, cross country course, and summer training into a competition that demanded something different but called upon many of the same qualities. 

That has long been part of the Norwich experience. Norwich student-athletes are never only athletes. They are students in the classroom, competitors in their sport, and, for those in the Corps of Cadets, participants in a military system built around discipline, leadership, and service. Their days require them to move from one responsibility to another, often carrying the lessons of one into the next. The Patriot Games provided another example of how these experiences can reinforce one another. 

Norwich University Director of Athletics Ed Hockenbury further praised the student-athletes:

"The recent success of our Norwich Cadets in the Patriot Games highlights what a privilege it is to work with the incredible young men and women at an institution that represents the very best of our nation’s private military institutions. Five of the six participants on the Norwich team are varsity student-athletes who manage to not only balance their full commitment to academics, their sport, and their military pursuits, but to excel in each of them. They are models of the 'I Will Try' attitude we stand for at Norwich. We are very proud of them and congratulate them on their remarkable accomplishment at this year’s Patriot Games."

Norwich athletes have spent generations representing the University in places far beyond traditional fields of competition. The inaugural Patriot Games added another chapter to that history.