Clarke Central High School JROTC Raiders climb the wall outside the CCHS JROTC Building on Sept. 25, 2021. The Raiders’ teams prepared for their fourth Area Eight Raiders’ competition, which will be held on Sept. 30 at Cedar Shoals High School. “We are constantly training. We are running, picking up heavy weights (and) learning to cross an imaginary river 45 feet apart. There’s just a lot of blood, sweat and tears,” Cadet Lieutenant Matthew Zavaleta said. Photo by Maya Clement
The CCHS JROTC male varsity and JV mixed Raiders’ teams are preparing for their competition at Cedar Shoals High School on Sept. 30.
The Clarke Central High School JROTC male varsity and JV mixed Raiders’ teams will compete in their fourth Area Eight competition at Cedar Shoals High School on Sept. 30 starting at 8 a.m.
Each team consists of 15 participants, but only 10 will be chosen to compete in each event at a time. The competition consists of five to six scored events: a team run, an obstacle course and a simulated rope bridge, as well as two to three “wild card” events.
“It’s like golf, (the) lowest number of points wins,” male varsity team captain Sam Kiefer, a junior, said. “So say you get straight ones and there are five events, you would finish with five points, which means that’s a guaranteed win.”
“(CSHS’) obstacle course isn’t nicely built wooden structures. It’s concrete pipes and dirt. They work with what they have so they make it as difficult as they can with the resources that they have available,”
— Samuel Keifer,
Male Varsity Team Captain
Army Instructor First Sergeant Antione Clark has worked with the CSHS JROTC program for nine years, and says the event is a major draw in the state.
“The Cedar Shoals (High School) meet is normally one of the biggest meets in the state. A lot of schools like to come to Cedar Shoals,” Clark said. “Cedar Shoals High School has been committed to Raiders a lot longer than a lot of high schools.”
Unlike in other sports, Raiders’ courses are not standardized, so the field of competition varies depending on where the meet is held, which, according to Kiefer, poses unique challenges.
“(CSHS’) obstacle course isn’t nicely built wooden structures. It’s concrete pipes and dirt. They work with what they have so they make it as difficult as they can with the resources that they have available,” Kiefer said.
According to Cadet Lieutenant Matthew Zavaleta, a senior, the Raiders team has been working
in preparation for the meet at CSHS.
“We are constantly training. We are running, picking up heavy weights (and) learning to cross an imaginary river 45 feet apart. There’s just a lot of blood, sweat and tears,” Zavaleta said.
While the CSHS vs. CCHS rivalry is well documented in traditional sports, according to Zavaleta, the rivalry is also important to members of both schools’ Raiders teams.
“We won against Cedar and then they got a couple of wins on us but Clarke Central (and) Cedar Shoals, that rivalry. Everyone loves that rivalry,” Zavaleta said. “We, even the students, when we go over there when we’re waiting for the event, we go to the Cedar kids, they come to us. We’re all friends because we know each other, or we just got there.”
Story by Liya Taylor
