Orienteering Takes First at Service Academy Championship

The USMA Orienteering Team travelled to Baltimore, MD earlier this month in order to beat Navy and Coast Guard in the Second Annual Service Academy Orienteering Championship. The competition served as a prelude to the Army-Navy Football Game. Quantico Orienteering Club hosted the event in which USMA raced male and female competitors across three different course Divisions-Orange, Green, and Red. The “O-Team” earned their Blue and Gold Stars sweeping each division by a wide margin; out of all five races, only one Navy or Coast Guard competitor finished in the top 5. The team was spearheaded by excellent runs from both seasoned veterans of the team and up-and coming talent. USMA snagged every first place finish, with CDT Saponari ’20 winning Men’s Orange with a time of 41:24, CDT Bordelon ’20 winning Women’s Orange with a time of 1:25:28, CDT Evans ’18 winning Men’s Green with a time of 54:01, CDT Johnson ’18 winning Women’s Green with a time of 1:34:18, and CDT Bruce ’18 winning Men’s Red with a time of 1:02:21. CDT O’Conor ’17 established this competition last year while on semester exchange at the Naval Academy. He oversaw training of the Midshipmen’s first Orienteers. This year, CDT Bruce ’18 has trained a team of Coast Guard Cadets while on exchange at the Coast Guard Academy. We are excited to see these programs grow and develop into expert navigators and look forward to future competitions on the fields of friendly strife.