Colquitt County High School's Marine Corps Junior ROTC Raider Team placed second among the teams competing at the Raider event Feb. 5. First row, from left, are Savannah Tyson, Jesus Luna, Cristina Sebastian-Antonio, Alyssa Rehberg, Hannah Craig and Jeremiah Nelson. Second row from left are Bobby Luckie, Ryan White, Michael Marshall, Cheyenne Barber, Jamar Brown, Clayton Guess and Macon Craig.

MOULTRIE, Ga. — The Colquitt County High School Junior ROTC program is celebrating its first ever Raider Team competition victory. 

The Raider Competition is a team based athletic competition that typically consists of strength tests, distance team running events, a first aid/paramedic rescue event and a rope bridge construction and crossing event, according to Lt. Col. Jason Perdew of the CCHS JROTC program.

This was the first year the CCHS program participated.

“The event is something Army JROTC programs have put together in years past and it was something that I was very interested in bringing to the school,” Perdew said in an interview Wednesday. 

The co-ed competition was held Feb. 5 at Palm Bay Magnet High School in Melbourne, Fla. Colquitt County’s self proclaimed “Hell Hawgs” Raider Team finished second overall in the competition with two first place event placings. 

The team challenges consisted of a 3-mile run, a weighted burpee competition, a tire flip competition, a simulated rescue operation and a rope bridge construction/crossing event. 

“The girls had to do everything that the boys did,” Perdew stated.

The team placed first in both the tire flip and the 3-mile run. 

The team consists of 13 members of varying ages. Members include:

Savannah Tyson, Jesus Luna, Cristina Sebastian-Antionio, Alyssa Rehberg, Hannah Craig, Jeremiah Nelson, Bobby Luckie, Ryan White, Michael Marshall, Jamar Brown, Clayton Guess, Macon Craig and team captain Cheyenne Barber. 

Barber is a senior this year and has been a part of the Marine Corps JROTC program all four years of her high school career. She plans to enroll at Georgia Military College before enlisting in the military. She stated that the Raider team is something she knew she had to be a part of.

“I wanted to try something new when I heard about it. I knew It would be something fun and something to be a part of. I enjoy it. I’m going to miss it but that’s okay,” Barber said.

Barber was elected as team captain by the other members for her motivational efforts and her ability to keep everybody on track.

“I am the one that is trying to make sure that everything gets done and gets done right. Yes, there’s times when we are having fun or whatever but I want stuff to get done right then and there,” she said.

Perdew hopes to continue growing the Raider program to eventually host his own competitions. 

“There’s so much that I’d need but that’s one of the end goals… In my previous school I didn’t have enough kids for a raider team. Now that I have the amount of kids I need, I want to be able to keep expanding the program,” Perdew stated.