The University of Wisconsin Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps (NROTC) unit hosted its 43rd annual Fall Invitational Drill Meet here, Oct. 23-24. This year, more than 200 midshipmen from seven universities traveled to the Madison campus to participate in the team competition.

"I was very pleased with the effort all of our midshipmen put into hosting the Fall Invitational," said Capt. Christopher P. Murdoch, Professor of Naval Science and NROTC commanding officer for the Wisconsin unit. "The dedication that the midshipmen, their Marine Officer Instructors and Assistant Marine Officer Instructors, from all seven visiting programs, put into the competition was very evident by the performance of all the teams."

The invitational included midshipmen from Ohio State University, Iowa State University, Marquette University, Miami of Ohio, the Universities of Illinois, Colorado-Boulder, Missouri, and host Wisconsin. A contingent of family members and friends also traveled to Madison to see their midshipmen compete.

"We want to extend our thanks to the University of Wisconsin NROTC unit for hosting us," said U. S. Marine Corps Gunnery Sgt. Matthew Salazar, University of Colorado-Boulder AMOI. "Overall, I think it was a very successful and well-executed event. Our midshipmen had a great time, and we look forward to returning next year."

Competition began the afternoon of Oct. 23 with pistol and rifle shooting events held at the Pistol and Archery Center in Deerfield, Wis. The University of Colorado-Boulder took the first place team award in the rifle competition, with Midshipman 2nd Class Ryan Cruz, also from the Colorado team, taking honors as the rifle high shooter, with a score of 208. The University of Wisconsin took first place in the team pistol competition, and the University of Missouri's Midshipman 1st Class Benjamin Pedersen won the individual award for pistol high shooter, scoring 225. Following the rifle/pistol competition, all teams attended a social at the Sett Recreation Center, located in the University of Wisconsin's Union South.

"It was refreshing to see the faces of so many other midshipmen from other schools, a few of which I will definitely come across in my future career in the Navy," said Midshipman 2nd Class Michael Farina of Marquette University stated.

Midshipman 1st Class Kyle Burke, University of Wisconsin NROTC Battalion Commander, said it was exciting to see midshipmen from all over the country get together for the competition.

"The amount of work that each school put into preparing for the event made for the most competitive invitational that I've seen as a midshipman. Even though we were competing against each other at the meet, knowing that in the next few years we will be serving alongside one another helps bring everyone together and makes the event an even greater success," Burke said.

On Saturday, at the University's McClain Athletic Facility inside Camp Randall Stadium, teams competed in three separate events - platoon drill, squad drill, and color guard. In preparation for the drill competition, the teams spend months practicing the Marine Corps Drill Manual. Assistant Marine Officer Instructors (AMOI), from the competing NROTC units, graded each event. The University of Miami (Ohio) took first place in both platoon and squad drill, while Marquette took first in the color guard competition.

The highlight event each year of the drill meet is the Urban Adventure Race, a grueling 10-mile race around the university campus. The course began and ended at the NROTC unit building and consisted of 10 exercise stations that included rope climbs, pull-ups, buddy carries, a stair climb up the 19-story Van Hise building, and multiple calisthenics. Midshipmen competed in teams of six, and each team had to carry a 40-pound pack throughout the race.

This year, the University of Illinois team captured first place in the adventure race with a time of 2:29:40, beating out the second place Colorado-Boulder team and the third place Ohio State team. At the conclusion of the race, University of Wisconsin midshipmen provided lunch for all the drill meet participants and staff, which served as another opportunity for the different units to get to know each other.

The drill meet culminated in an awards ceremony held at the McClain Center. Murdoch presented the overall team awards, with the help of University of Wisconsin mascot Bucky Badger. Miami of Ohio was the overall champion of the invitational, tallying 647.5 total points. Second place went to the University of Wisconsin with 617.5 points, and Iowa State University took third with 567.5 points.

"We were excited to come back to Wisconsin this year. Wisconsin had been our very first meet as a school in decades in 2014, and we didn't do very well," said Miami of Ohio Midshipman 2nd Class Stephen Milders.

"This year, we practiced hard and spent tireless hours to get ourselves to the level of competition that we expected in Madison. Our commanding officer wanted us to compete, make memories, and obtain victory. We were able to complete all of those expectations beyond what we had hoped. The Miami University NROTC drill team is proud to have competed in Wisconsin this year."

Murdoch was pleased and satisfied with the execution and outcome of the fall invitational drill meet. "The weather cooperated this year, making the two-and a half hour Urban Adventure Race especially enjoyable. The attendance at the award ceremony by Wisconsin's very own mascot, Bucky Badger, was certainly appreciated by the overall winner, Miami of Ohio," Murdoch said.

"Ultimately, the meet is about building morale and camaraderie between these highly talented and motivated future Navy and Marine Corps officers. They are likely to serve together in the Fleet in a couple of years, and this event will provide them an experience to look back upon as a basis for future relationships."

The NROTC midshipmen that participated at the University of Wisconsin-Madison NROTC Fall Invitational are among more than 4,000 students enrolled in the NROTC program each year at colleges and universities throughout the country.

The NROTC program was established to develop midshipmen mentally, morally and physically and to imbue them with the highest ideals of duty and loyalty. The program also develops midshipmen with the Navy's core values of honor, courage and commitment in order to commission college graduates as naval officers who possess a basic professional background, are motivated toward careers in the naval service, and have a potential for future development in mind and character so as to assume the highest responsibilities of command, citizenship and government.

For more information about NROTC, visit https://www.nrotc.navy.mil.

For more information about NSTC, visit http://www.netc.navy.mil/nstc/ or visit the NSTC Facebook pages at https://www.facebook.com/NavalServiceTraining/.

For more news from Naval Service Training Command, visit www.navy.mil/.

For more news from Naval Service Training Command, visit www.navy.mil/.