Orienteering at the Georgia Navigator's Cup

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Clik here to view.The USMA Orienteering Team participated the annual Georgia Navigator’s Cup over MLK Jr. Weekend. Fresh off of their victory over Navy, the team spent the weeks leading up to the event maintaining their already high fitness level as the courses for the meet in the unforgiving Georgia woods were difficult to navigate and featured course lengths of over 10 kilometers. The team stayed in the Basic Combat Training barracks in the Sands Hills area of Ft. Benning. They dined at the nearby Dining Facility and watched trainees endure grueling basic training and Drill Sergeants. They also toured Ft. Benning led by the Orienteering OIC, COL Mark Read, seeing impressive sights such as the airborne towers and the Army Ranger monuments. Friday’s sprint course was an introductory level event, intended to familiarize competitors with the terrain they would face in the following races. The main events were on Saturday and Sunday and required competitors to navigate over, around, and through countless rivers, brambles, thickets, and hills. The teams also participated in an optional “Extreme-O” on Monday, which required teams to find a number of points with a twist beyond normal Orienteering. Participants faced tasks such as crossing over log bridges, canoeing to points on an island, crawling through tunnels, fishing for underwater points, and navigating through a maze. The team performed well, placing multiple runners in the top 3 of their respective course difficulty divisions. Sayles ’20 took 3rd on Day 3 for Intermediate Level. Saponari ’20 took 2nd on Day 3 for High Level. Team captain, Sitarz ’17 took 1st in the Day 1 Sprint and 3rd overall for Expert Level.