DCA Update - Extracurricular Clubs

Competitive Clubs

Fencing:

• On 15 Feb., the West Point Men’s Fencing Team competed in their second weekend of MAC Conference Matches and finished on top once again
• The men went 3-1 overall, defeating Lafayette College by a score of 15-12, Rutgers University 19-8, and Drew University 20-7
• The men only dropped one match to Cornell University with a 6-21 score
• The Sabre Squad led the day going 3-1, with top finishes going to CDT Blake Gordon (9-3) and CDT Gus Williams (10-2)
• The Foil Squad also had an impressive day going 3-1 for their record, with the top athlete going to CDT Josh Qualls at 5-3
• In the weapon of Epee, CDT Aaron Mellstrom was 7-5
• The men were behind with Division I Lafayette by a wide margin, however, they rallied and came back with eight consecutive bouts to overtake Lafayette in the last round

Climbing (Mountaineering):

• On 14 Feb., nineteen cadets from the West Point Climbing Team went to the Prime Climb Gym to compete in the second Collegiate Climbing Series competition of the season
• Competitors from Columbia, Rutgers, Yale, Cornell, RIT, WPI, Smith, Wesleyan and Princeton were all represented
• The West Point Team climbed strong, and brought home placements in all three disciplines
• CDT Marcie Jhong took fifth in boulders; CDT Zhaina Myrzakhanova placed third in speed and second in routs; CDT Julian Barker placed second in boulders and third in ropes, as well as third in speed
• Many of the team members showed vast improvements on their performances

Men’s Volleyball:

• On 14-15 Feb., the Men’s Army Volleyball team traveled to UC-Davis to compete against some of the best teams in the country at the Far Westerns Volleyball Tournament
• While the team was unable to come away with a win, the experience of playing against top-flight squads was invaluable
• The team was also able to visit San Francisco and tour one of the last two remaining WWII-Era Liberty Ships in the world

Boxing (Mens):

• On 12 Feb., the West Point Men’s Boxing Team attended the 88th Annual Golden Gloves Boxing Tournament Kick Off as the special honored guest of Mr. Teddy Atlas
• Teddy started the Dr. Teddy Atlas Foundation, named after his late father to help the needy in the NYC area
• Teddy is a famous boxing trainer and a long time ESPN personality; his relationship and reverence with Army Boxing and Dr. Barone goes back several years as Teddy has done the BBO at West Point on numerous occasions

Support Clubs

Glee Club:

• Over President’s Day Weekend, the Glee Club traveled to Philadelphia and to the Washington D.C. area for several performances with the West Point Alumni Glee Club
• While in Philadelphia, the club was treated to a private, guided tour of Independence Hall, complete with a performance of the National Anthem outside its steps
• After seeing one of the original copies of the Declaration of Independence and the famous Liberty Bell, the club performed with the Alumni Club at the historic Christ Church
• The joint performance, entitled “The Spirit of ‘45”, honored the 70th Anni-versary of the end of WWII and the 150th anniversary of the end of the Civil War
• The Cadet Glee Club also premiered a work by British Composer Bob Chilcott, commissioned by the Glee Club, entitled “Everything That Grows”
• This choral piece borrows its lyrics from William Shakespeare’s Sonnet XV and featured the West Point Band’s SSG Yalin Chi on piano and SSG Kristen Mather de Andrade on clarinet
• After Christ Church, the Glee Club traveled to the Crystal City Marriott in Arlington, VA, to perform for the Jewish Military Veteran Society with the Alumni Glee Club
• The cadets and alumni also held a joint concert at the Stilesigner Theater on the Northern Virginia Community College campus in Alexandria, VA

Academic Clubs

Cadet Competitive Cyber Team:

• On 29 Jan. - 1 Feb., the Cadet Competitive Cyber Team (C3T) competed head to head with other service academies at CyberStakes Live; the DARPA sponsored event took place at the Soldier and Sailors Memorial Hall in Pittsburgh, PA
• Cadets and Midshipmen from the Military, Naval, Air Force, and Coast Guard Academies participated as team and individuals in a variety of security challenges
• Highlights from this year’s competition were the new Joint Capture the Flag event in which mixed participants from each of the academies moved into new groups on the second day of competition
• This year also introduced a complex and challenging Cold Boot challenge
• This event gave participants the task of extracting keys directly from memory by chilling the memory to help preserve its state and then transferring it to another system in order to bypass memory protections
• The competition was organized and hosted by For All Secure, a company founded by a team of computer security researchers from Carnegie Mellon University
• CyberStakes is an Olympic style event with awards for each event, but no overall rankings are given
• Members of the C3T won awards in the Cold Boot, Live CTF, Joint CTF and Lock picking events and performed admirably throughout the competition
• This event was designed to give students from each of the academies an opportunity to network, engage in friendly competition, learn new skills, and sow the seeds for future joint cyber operations

Hobby Clubs

Scuba:

• On 13-16 Feb., the USMA Scuba Team traveled to Key West Florida for its annual advanced dive training
• Thirteen cadets, an OIC and the NCOIC, took advantage of the warm weather to hone advanced skills by diving at deep depths on The Vanderbura, a well-known and large World War II shipwreck
• During the dive training, the team’s instructors (Firsties) focused on evaluating the instructor candidates (Cows) and Divemasters (Yearlings)
• NCOIC, SFC William Rothrock also gave cadets a tour of Key West’s Special Forces Underwater Operations School (SFUOS)

Alpine Skiing:

• On 16 Feb., the Army Alpine Ski Team hosted Navy and Cornell's’s alpine race teams at the annual Army Navy Alpine race Invitational at the Victor Constant Ski Slope
• Army is the winner this year against Navy, beating Navy in Giant Slalom by one second and Slalom by nearly four seconds
• Cornell, once again, showed that they are one of the fastest race teams in the Eastern Collegiate Ski Conference
• The cadets and middies both enjoy the relationship that they share with Cornell, as they raise the level of play for all competitors
• Individual standouts for Army include CDT Sawyer Harkins (‘18) who placed 9th in Giant Slalom (GS) and 8th in Slalom (SL); CDT Josh Ische (‘16) placed 10th in GS and 9th in SL of 30 total racers
• Also racing very well were Team Captain CDT Chris Emerson (‘15), CDTS Ayrne Riley (‘17), Patrick Kearny (‘17), and Logan Trust (‘18)
• The cadets along with the mids and Cornell worked alongside together to set up the race
• LTG Caslen was in attendance for the race; he ran some gates with the racers, as well as presented the trophy to the Cadets at the Award Ceremony

Military Clubs

Pistol:

• The West Point Pistol Team hosted the Coast Guard and Merchant Marine Academies this past weekend for an Intercollegiate Sectional Pistol Match
• Results from this match and sectional matches fired all over the country, were the qualifying events for Nationals that will be held at Ft. Benning, GA, on 22-27 March
• West Point swept all five events for the match; for the three open events (Free Pistol, Standard Pistol, and Air Pistol) West Point shot an aggregate score of 6289 to Coast Guard’s 5903 and Merchant Marine’s 5821
• West Point won the Air Pistol event with a four person team score of 2208 to USCGA’s 2114 and USMMA’s 2072
• West Point shot a team score of 1967 in Free Pistol; USMMA shot a 1800 and USCGA shot a 1769
• West Point won the final Open Event, Standard Pistol, with a team score of 2114 to USCGA’s 2020 and USMMA’s 1959
• West Point won both Women’s events with an aggregate score of 2717 to USCGA’s 2653; Merchant Marine did not field a women’s team; West Point won the Women’s Air Pistol event with a three person team score of 1092 to USCGA’s 1074
• West Point won the sport Pistol event with a team score of 1625 to USCGA’s 1579; Minhee Pak led the scoring with 555 out of 600; Sophomore Haana YU shot a 536 and Melody Yap shot a 534

Drill Team:

• This past weekend, the Black Knight Drill Team traveled to New Orleans, LA, to compete in the Tulane Mardi Gras Drill Meet
• The event featured several schools from across the nation such as North Georgia University, Norwich University, and Texas A&M University
• The team placed second in the platoon exhibition category, and CDT Michael Leinen (‘16) placed second in the individual exhibition category
• After the event, the team was hosted for a dinner of traditional Cajun Food by the local chapter of the VFW; the dinner allowed the team to bond as a unit and share experiences with a group of veterans from another generation
• The following day, the team visited the WWII museum
• The national competition served as a capstone for the drill team’s preparation over the course of the last year, allowing them to showcase all of the hard work they have put in since August

DCA Happenings

Tickets are now available for the
100th Night Shows at the Eisenhower
Hall Box Office.
Tickets for Cadets are free, and are
$15 for guests and/or anyone else.
Show time for Friday, 20 Feb. is 2000
Show time for Saturday, 21 Feb. is 1900