DCA Update - Extracurricular Clubs

Competitive Clubs

Crew:

• This past weekend, the Army Crew Team challenged the Royal Military College of Canada at the 2015 USMA-RMC Indoor Rowing Championship at Arvin Cadet Physical Development Center
• The event opened with a 2000 meter varsity heat followed by a 2000 meter novice heat, a 1000 meter coxswains heat and a 2000 meter relay heat
• The last time both schools competed in head-to-head indoor rowing competition was in 2001 (Army Won)
• Army crew was the only competitive club to compete for a championship during this year’s RMC exchange
• The Army Team won every heat and posted the fastest combined time to win the championship
• CDT Ross Downum clocked the fastest 2000 meter time of the day at 6:23.8, more than 36 seconds faster than the nearest RMC competitor
• CDT Ali Darby, a novice rower, posted the fastest time for the women at 7:55.3
• The fastest time by a novice man was recorded by CDT Chris Wagner at 6:31.1
• CDT Michaela Farris lead all coxswains in the 1000 meter piece, finishing in 3:50.3
• In the final event of the day, a 2000 meter relay, CDTs Brennan Nesaralla, Ethan Grogan, and Gavin Hoffman won by a wide margin of 39.7 seconds
• Members of the Army Crew hosted the RMC Cadets from Thursday through Sunday, and attended a banquet honoring the event on Friday in Washington Hall
• They also participated in a joint practice on Friday morning at 0530, followed by a team breakfast
• The weekend culminated with the Men’s Team Captain, CDT Court Adams, accepting the perennial championship plaque from LTG Caslen during the first intermission of the RMC-USMA Hockey game

Team Handball (Women's):

• On 24-26 January, both the Black and Gold teams of Women’s Handball Team travelled to Levis, Canada (near Quebec) to compete in a five team tournament
• West Point Black went 3-1 over the weekend, losing the first game to the host Levis 1 before winning the next three over West Point Gold, Levis 2, and Laurier
• One key highlight was the tremendous defense during the third match against a very physical and a more experienced team from Montreal
• The handball courts were much shorter than the regulation court that the team normally plays on, which minimized the fast-break offense, so a strong defense was required and the team stepped up
• Individuals also stepped up their game, to include an overall impressive play from CDT Cora Moody who had the first alley oops goal in team’s recent memory
• The Gold team showed strong development over the entire weekend, playing Levis 2 in a close one point match and frustrating Levis 1 with their defense
• CDT Lindsey Kiernan demonstrated a fantastic wing shot that she’s de-veloped which significantly contributed to her team’s improved offensive success compared to past tournaments
• The trip was a fantastic cultural experience for both teams, allowing Ca-dets to interact with the Canadian clubs with a much higher understanding and level of experience in handball compared to many clubs in America

Inline Hockey:

• On 24 Jan., the West Point Inline Hockey Club travelled to Lawrenceville, NJ, to compete against the Rider University Broncs at Loucks Ice Center
• The Cadets jumped on the Broncs early, scoring the first goal of the game at 18:13 of the first, and then another at 10:28 to extend the lead; Army finished the period with an 18-15 edge in shots
• Starting the period with a 5 on 3 powerplay, Army took advantage and scored twice early, giving the Cadets a 4-1 lead
• The physical intensity of the game continued to pick up in the second period, and multiple penalties put Army on the penalty kill in the period
• Looking to protect the lead, Army settled into a stifling defensive stance in the third period, and scored another goal to close at the Cadet victory at 5-1

Academic Clubs

Model UN Forum:

• From 22-25 Jan., the USMA Model UN Team competed in the McGill Model UN Assembly in Montreal
• Throughout the weekend, Cadets engaged in vigorous debate en-compassing various topics across the spectrum of world issues and historical crises
• Cadets also engaged socially with members of dozens of universi-ties from around the world and discussed cultural issues
• At the conclusion of the weekend, the USMA Model UN Team was awarded the Outstanding Small Delegation Award, defeating all but one university, and beating both Navy and RMC
• The following Cadets were awarded individual commendations in their respective committees: CDT Jack Bagdadi (Outstanding Delegate), CDT Ezra Engel (Best Delegate), CDT Patrick Beauregard (Outstanding Delegate), CDT Christine Sidu (Outstanding Delegate), CDT Brittany Scofield (Outstanding Delegate) and CDT Jon Paul (Book Award)

Military Clubs

Pistol:

• This past weekend, the West Point Pistol Team defeated MIT with a three event aggregate score of 6221 to 6178
• MIT won the Free Pistol event with a team score of 1961 to West Point’s 1957; both teams tied in Standard Pis-tol with a score of 2061
• West Point won the final event, Air Pistol, with a team score of 2203 to MIT’s 2156
• MIT won the Women’s Air Pistol event with a team score of 1071 to West Point’s 1066
• The West Point women won the Sport Pistol event with a team score of 1637 to MIT’s 1616, giving the Women’s Pistol Team the overall win with an aggregate score of 2701 to MIT’s 2687
• Army will host a sectional match at Tronsrue Marksmanship Center on 14-15 February, which is the qualifying match for Nationals

Support Clubs

Pipes and Drums:

• The West Point Pipes & Drums hosted the Bands of the Cana-dian Royal Military College as part of the 92nd Annual RMC-USMA Exchange Weekend
• The Pipes & Drum Team has worked with the RMC Band for over 30 years, and it was another great weekend of workshops, performances, and fellowship
• On Saturday, the bands held workshops in Crest Hall, where they broke down into sections and rehearsed sets to perform later in the day at the Hollender Center
• While the bands rehearsed, the dancers of both programs met in Arvin Gymna-sium and held a workshop there where the talented dancers of RMC trained with the West Point Celtic Dancers in several new routines
• The bands came back together for a group rehearsal, and later that evening went to the Hollender Center to perform for the largest crowd the combined bands have performed for while at USMA
• The performance before the hockey game was a huge success and the crowd loved the performances of the band which included: solo performances, dance performances, and a fantastic rendi-tion of Amazing Grace, which featured the Brass and Reed section of the RMC Band
• Following the performances, the bands attended the Hockey match and the cadets cheered the Army team on to a victory

Snow Support (Ski Patrol):

• The West Point Ski Patrol Club travelled to Elk Mountain and participated in the East-ern Division’s Ski and Toboggan Patroller School
• There the Cadets learned ski instructor skills and valuable skills from professional ski patrollers
• Candidate patrollers trained with professional patrollers on handling toboggans loaded with patients and unloading the to-boggans
• The candidate patrollers were able to familiarize themselves and gain confidence in transporting potential patients down any terrain in a toboggan
• Experienced cadet patrollers were given the opportunity to hone their skills specific to their platform, whether it was skis or snowboards; they also spent time refining their skills with handling toboggans

Hobby Clubs

Nordic Skiing:

• On the weekend of 23-25 Jan., the West Point Nordic Ski Team competed in the Cornell University Invitational Ski Meet held at the Craftsbury Outdoor Center in Craftsbury Common, VT
• Eight members of the team participated in both skate/freestyle and classic style Nordic ski competitions
• On 24 Jan., in the Men’s 15K state race, CDT Joshua Bassette took third place overall with a race time of 45:34, just three min-utes behind the first place skier from Cornell University
• CDT Benjamin Brea was the next finisher for Army in 26th place, with a race time of 1:04:24
• The rest of the Army field included: CDT Keith Basnett coming in at 1:09:15 (30th); CDT Landon Hanson with a fin-ish time of 1:22:05 (34th); and CDT Spencer Read, competing the first time ever, with a finish time of 1:29:07 (36th)
• In the Women’s 15K state race, CDT Rebecca Sauter, in her very first Nordic Race, finished with a time of 1:59:20
• In the Sunday 8.5K classic races, the women skied first and both Army women completed the course, with CDT Emily Beecher finishing at 1:06:54 (20th), and CDT Rebecca Sauter finishing at 1:25:32 (21st)
• In the men’s competition, CDT Joshua Bassette finished in fourth place with a race time of 30:47, CDT Ben Brea fin-ished in 20th place with a time of 42:17, CDT Keith Basnett finished in 26th place with a time of 44:31, CDT Landon Hanson finished in 29th place with a time of 51:17, and CDT Spencer Read finished in 31st place with a time of 1:02:40
• In overall team points Army finished in 4th place in both of the men’s events

Religious Clubs

Catholic Chapel Cadet Catechists:

• On 21-22 January, Catholic Cadets travelled to Washington, D.C, to attend the March for Life
• Archbishop Broglio of the Archdiocese of the Military Services (AMS) invited the cadets to accompany him to the event
• Attended by an estimated 650,000 people, the March allowed Cadets to witness firsthand, in a vivid and compelling way, American political life in action and the first amendment right of free-dom of assembly
• The March also gave them the opportunity to reflect deeply upon two principles that are fundamental to our military profession: the intrinsic value of all human beings and the defense of human life
• Prior to the March, the cadets received a tour of the AMS headquar-ters building, where members of the Archbishop’s staff explained the organization and function of the Archdiocese

DCA Happenings

Cadet Programs

Cadet Programs presented a Masquerade Ball for the Class of 2018 at Eisenhower Hall on 23 January, where over 500 cadets and guests attended. Music was provided by the Benny Haven’s Band. Complimentary photos, games, prizes and refreshments were provided. Kudos to the class leadership for their planning and supervision of the event!