Ranger Challenge team advances to Sandhurst

Ranger Challenge is the varsity sport of Army ROTC and a Corps of Cadets specialty unit at UNG, and in addition to the second-place group advancing to the May 1-2 Sandhurst competition at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, UNG's "Gold" team placed 13th.

As part of its strong overall performance, UNG also took top honors in the following events:

Black

• Functional fitness lane
• Malvesti obstacle course
• Overall movement between events
• Ruck march

Gold

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University took first place at the Titan Ranger Challenge and advanced along with UNG to Sandhurst. It was also the only school outside of UNG to win more than one event, prevailing in two.

"Physically, there was not another team at Titan Ranger Challenge that matched the grit, conditioning or collective toughness of our two teams. That is not hype. That is observation," said retired Command Sgt. Maj. Joey Blacksher, senior executive advisor to the superintendent of the Cadet Leadership Academy. "To put that in perspective, Auburn University, the third-place team, was in repeated event proximity with our Gold team. Our Gold group outworked them physically throughout the competition."

Black team members included: Lex Christian Jason Cooper, Jacob Crawford (squad leader), Micah Dell, Alyssa Estes, Alex Gray (team leader), Matthew McClanahan, Daniel Ortiz, Navaeh Owen, Jake Penney (team leader), and Kaysen Reynolds.

Gold team members included: Trezontae Britton, John Carello, Keila Creus (team leader), Josiah Lee, Robert McChrystal, Johnathon Savage (team leader), Jeremiah Simmons, Deyon Smith, Elijah Williams (squad leader), and Wyatt Williams.

Estes, a sophomore from Trion, Georgia, pursuing a degree in political science with a minor in Japanese, decided during Freshman Recruit Orientation Group (FROG) Week to join Ranger Challenge.

"My goal is to be comfortable being uncomfortable. It sounded hard. It sounded scary. I wasn't sure if I would be able to keep up with people like that," Estes said. "We all strive for excellence. Being part of a unit like that greatly appealed to me."