Centennial High School‘s Navy JROTC unit recently represented the Clark County School District and the state of Nevada through its participation in the NJROTC Nationals Academic, Athletic and Drill Competition in Pensacola, Florida.
The competition consisted of 26 high schools that were pared down from 650 units throughout the United States.
From April 1-2, the 40 cadets traveled to Florida to compete in military drill, physical fitness and academic competitions. The unit's efforts earned them fourth place in the nation with specific accolades for personnel inspection (second place), overall drill (third place), unarmed basic drill (second place), color guard (third place) and armed basic drill (fourth place).
The teams were led by seniors Bailey DiBennedeto (personnel inspection/armed drill), Austin Steele (academics) and Austin Hurt (physical fitness); and juniors Laura Rebar (unarmed drill) and Madison Armata (color guard).
Individually, four Centennial cadets were recognized for their achievement in physical fitness with Cadet Jesse Gomez performing 315 situps (third place) and 107 pushups (eighth place), Cadet Taliyah Franklin with 85 pushups (second place), Cadet Malacia Towns with 224 situps (seventh place) and Cadet Kimberly Diaz-Bravo with 206 situps (10th place).
Centennial High School has a storied program, achieving top-four honors consecutively since 2004 and ranked number one in 2007.
The program is led by retired Petty Officer Gail Johnson and Senior Chief Petty Officer Tom Borders who have a combined experience of 36 years in national competitions.
