DCA Update - Extracurricular Clubs

Director’s Notes — An Inside Look

This past week was full of exciting Extracurricular Club activities and competitions. Many of our Clubs and Forums attended their respective Nationals.

We are excited to announce that Women’s Boxing came home with several team members as National Finalists; the Fencing Team brought home a National Victory in Epée; also, the Karate team won the Men’s heavy weight black belt and the Women’s lightweight blackbelt at their Nationals. Congratulations to all who participated! For those clubs with Nationals coming up, good luck as your teams go on to compete.

This weekend, West Point is hosting a series of events. The weather should be beautiful, and I encourage all to come out and support our home teams and clubs. Please like us on Face-book, or check the DCA Calendar for updates on home and away Extracurricular Club events.

COL Dean R. Batchelder
Director of Cadet Activities
All For The Corps!
Visit: www.allforthecorps.com

Competitive Clubs

Cycling:

• On 11 April, the West Point Cycling Team traveled to Vermont, to participate in Green Mountain Weekend\The team jumped six places (8th) in DIV II standings, with a strong 7th overall performance this weekend
• Thirty-four teams competed, with the West Point women putting on a clinic for the C field
• CDTs Kiana Frick, Sarah Larue and Elizabeth Psiaki placed first in the Team Time Trial (TTT); CDT Kiana Frick (‘17) achieved 2nd place in the Criterium and 7th in the Road Race; CDT Elizabeth Psiaki (‘18) and CDT Kaitlin Bender (‘17) continued to show improvement with excellent finishes of 8th and 9th in Women’s D Criterium and 10th in Road
• In the Men’s C field, CDT Tristan Manderfield (‘17) led the final chase pack of West Point cadets to podium position

Crew:

• On 10 April, the Army Crew team competed in the Knecht Cup on Mercer Lake in West Windsor Township, NJ, against more than 70 other collegiate programs from across the country
• The Varsity Women lead Army in the first race of the day with a solid race in the Varsity Pair, qualifying them for the Grand Final on Sunday, a first for Army Crew
• The pair, powered by CDT Arden Percoco and CDT Emma Spell, went on to finish fifth in the event behind top boats from varsity programs at UMass and FIT, while besting the entry from Rutgers, a Big 10 program
• Next was the Varsity Women’s Four, who won their heat and posted the third best time of 30 schools in the event; they went on to reach the Petite Final on Sunday, where they finished fourth
• The Men’s Varsity Four and Women’s Second Varsity Four finished 4th and 3rd in their heats, respectively, just missing the times to progress to the finals
• Due to high winds, most of the races scheduled for Saturday, were pushed to Sunday, making for a long day of racing
• The Novice men had a particularly strong showing with all boats progressing through their heats into the finals
• The Novice Four placed 6th in the Grand Final, ranking them ahead of 26 of the 32 teams in their event
• The two Men’s Novice Eight entries made it into the Petite and Third-Level Finals, putting them ahead of Villanova, Rutgers, and Boston College
• The Varsity Men’s Eight came in second in their heat, third in their semi, and fifth place in the Grand Final

Powerlifting:

• Over the weekend of 10-12 April, the West Point Powerlifiting Team traveled to Atlanta, GA, to take part in the 2015 Collegiate National Powerlifting Championships
• Over 25 of the best college powerlifting teams competed in the this event to include, the University of Texas, LSU, UGA, and Penn State, just to name a few
• Firstie CDT Zach Newman was the first of the team’s 19 athletes to take the stage; as he has done in the past, CDT Newman came through, finishing with an All-American (top 5 in the nation) placing; CDT Newman is a four time All-American and has never lost to Navy or Air Force
• Next up was Yearling CDT Teddy Perretti, who claimed 7th place in the nation, and earned a few points for the West Point team
• CDTs Tom Evans, TJ Binkowski, Austin Martin, Jory Heath, and Niko Tan rounded out the day; they racked up enough points to bring West Point into 3rd place at the end of the day
• CDT Evans had a big day, as he broke his own Collegiate American Record and pulled a 618 lb. deadlift at 167 lb body weight
• On the second day, CDTs Bryson Randall, Clay Barone, and Blaise Badway had their chance to compete; CDTs Bar-one and Badway scored some points that contributed to the team’s score overall, representing the team well
• CDT Randall had a big day as well, finishing with another All-American placing and contributing much needed points to the overall team score
• At the end of day two, the team was just outside of second place
• Day three was the heavyweight day, and the competition started with CDTs Jacob Weiss, Nick Nero, Andrew Wing, and Anthony Adams competing at the same time
• All hit great numbers, however, when the final count was taken, West Point took 6th place overall

Women’s Boxing:

• On 8 April, the Women’s Boxing Team traveled to Ann Arbor, MI, to compete in the USIBA Nationals at the University of Michigan
• To kick off the event, CDT Michelle Lopez fought first against a girl from Syracuse in a 112 lb beginner bout; next was CDT Richelle Radcliff, who took on a 125 lb beginner opponent from Michigan; CDT Ivellisse Velez-Morey and CDT Joyce Wu fought opponents from Michigan and Kansas, respectively, in back to back 132 lb. novice bouts
• All of the ladies fought hard, and left the complex with one National Finalist, CDT Velez Day two of competition featured CDT Gabriela Barrera-Gutierrez in a 119 lb novice bout against a Michigan boxer; she was followed by CDT Sarah Gold in a 165 lb novice bout against a boxer out of Cincinnati
• CDT Barrera and CDT Gold both claimed National Finalist titles (2nd place)
• In the final day of the competition, CDT Janelle Bass fought for the 119 lb beginner title against Michigan; CDT Yomanda Martin took on a Miami opponent in a 141 lb novice bout; the evening closed for the team with CDT Melissa Box in an open category 152 lb bout against an opponent from Aquinas
• CDT Bass was given an All-American title; CDT Martin claimed a National Finalist title; and CDT Box now hold the USIBA National Champion Title for the 152 lb weight class

Fencing:

• On 10-13 April, the West Point Women’s and Men’s Fencing team competed in the Fencing Collegiate Nationals at Swarthmore College in Swarthmore, PA, and for the third consecutive year, came home National Champions
• The Women’s Sabre Team, led by CDT Lexie Blair, along with team mates CDT Taylor, Sharpsten and Liu, defeated Rutgers University by a score of 5-2 to take a third place finish
• In the weapon of Sabre, CDT Blake Gordon also took third place for the men
• The highlight of the championship was following the results of the Men’s Epée Team, led by CDT Marvin Hargraves
• In an early bout on Saturday, CDT Hargraves was charged by a Northwestern Fencer who wound up bruising his leg with his knee; the pain he suffered during the competition was at times intense
• Despite his injury, CDT Hargraves fought through the pain; in his last bout, he was able to outmaneuver his opponent, with only three seconds on the clock left; the final counterattack made by him was what won the National Championship for the West Point team
• The win that CDT Hargraves scored, brought not only another National Championship title home to West Point, but also marks the third consecutive year of first place wins for Army

Hobby Clubs

Skeet & Trap:

• On 10 April, the West Point Skeet & Trap team traveled to Burling-ton, MA, to compete in the New England Clays Cup Tournament
• The team delivered another dominant performance, nearly sweeping the tournament
• Shooters from Yale, Harvard, Harvard Law, MIT, Northeastern, Univ. of Vermont, and Texas A&M attended the tournament; the tournament is one of the largest collegiate clay target competitions in the Northeastern U.S.
• CDTs Mitch Koellner, Taylor Ferguson, and Chase Miller took first, second, and third (respectively) in the men’s trap competition; CDT Jared Van Curen took first place in men’s skeet after a shootoff
• CDT Carolee Schwarzer took first place in the ladies skeet & trap events, and was also named tournament HOA champion for her top scores in both events
• As a team, the USMA squads took first and second place in the team skeet competition, as well as first and third place in the team trap competition
• USMA retained the traveling Clay Cup Trophy for yet another year as tournament champions

Karate:

• On 10 and 11 April, the Army West Point Karate Club competed at the Karate Nationals in Las Vegas, NV
• The team dominated overall, winning several National Championships, and sweeping multiple divisions completely
• The first day of the tournament focused on full contact fighting
• The next divisions up were the beginner men, and the lightweights, which brought home 1st, 2nd, and 4th places, respectively; also, the heavyweights brought home 2nd and 4th
• The last divisions of the day were the men’s black belt division, one for 1st degree black belts, and one for upper degree black belts; the team swept both divisions, winning 1st through 4th place
• Most notable of this group was CDT Rahul Sawhney, successfully defending last year’s black belt full contact champion
• The second day of the tournament was composed of forms and point sparring
• The team started the day with a 3rd place finish in men’s black belt forms, and 4th place in women’s advanced forms
• After that point, sparring began and the beginner men won 3rd and 4th place; advanced women won 3rd; advanced men won 2nd; black belt women won 1st; and black belt men won 1st, 3rd, and 4th
• Overall, it was a great weekend for the Karate team, increasing its number of National Championships in the last three years from zero in 2013, to two in 2014, and now six in 2015

Academic Clubs

Civil & Military Engineering:

• On 10 March, the West Point Civil and Military Engineering Club hosted Mr. Chickola, Chief Corporate Engineer of Six Flags Entertainment Corporation, in the Eisenhower Hall Ballroom
• After dinner, Mr. Chickola shared with the club the process and challenges involved in the concept, design, and construction of Zumanjaro, the world’s tallest drop ride
• Additionally, he emphasized the importance of problem solving as a key engineering skill set
• Overall, this was a great opportunity for cadets to see the difficulties in completing a modern engineering project, and it served as an excellent forum for cadets to ask an experienced professional engineer about various professional and personal challenges throughout his career

Model Arab League:

• On 9-12 April, thirteen cadets from the USMA Model Arab League traveled to Washington, D.C., to compete in the National Council on US-Arab Relations (NCUSAR) National University (NUMAL) conference at Georgetown University
• This competitive forum was the culminating event for the year, as the cadets represented Morocco in the parliamentary com-petition against students from other universities representing other members of the League of Arab States
• Named outstanding delegation for their representation of Morocco in the Committee of Arab Social Affairs, CDT Kevin Schultz and CDT Brittany DesLauriers were this competition’s top performers in an extremely competitive field

American Institute of Chemical Engineers:

• On 10 April, members of the USMA American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChe) attended the 2015 regional competition in College Park, MD
• Cadets gathered alongside students from other Universities in the Mid-Atlantic region to present scholarly research, compete in chemical engineering jeopardy, and attend a full range of professional workshops and panel discussions with topics covering process simulations, to the roles of chemical engineers in government

Support Clubs

Pipes and Drums:

• On 11 April, the Pipes & Drums club traveled to New York, NY, to lead the New York City Tartan Day Parade
• In 1998 the U.S. Senate declared 6 April to be National Tartan Day to recognize the contributions made by Scottish-Americans to the United States
• The first parade in NYC was held in 1999; the Pipes & Drums club have marched in the parade since 2006
• This year the band had the honor of leading the parade up Sixth Avenue for the fourth year in a row
• The band marched up Sixth Avenue performing such tunes as Scotland the Brave, Rowan Tree, and of course the Army Song; the dancers performed periodically as the band moved up the route to the delight of the crowd
• The band performed for dignitaries of the Scottish Parliament and to thousands of parade watchers
• The parade is hosted by the Scottish Heritage Foundation, the New York Caledonian Club, and the St. Andrew’s Society

Diversity Clubs

Korean-American Relations Seminar:

• On 7 April, the Republic of Korea Army (ROKA), LTC Park Sang Jung (the Korean Military’s equivalent of DMI-6), presented a Certificate of Appreciation on behalf of the Commandant of the Korean Military Academy (KMA) to CDT Hyunseuk Kim, for his exceptional support and leadership in coordinating and supporting the reception of the KMA’s Sandhurst Competition Team
• Next year, CDT Kim will become the first ROKA Cadet CIC of the Korean American Relations Seminar in the club’s 24 year history
• After the presentation, visiting KMA cadets and cadets from the Korean American Relations Seminar Club of USMA, dined at the monthly Korean American Relations Seminar meeting
• The KMA cadets were pleasantly surprised to see such a strong turn-out from cadets interested in learning about Korean Culture

DCA Happenings

Upcoming Book Store Book Signings

Ret. MAJ Rusty Bradley and Kevin Maurer, authors of Lions of Kandahar - 21 April & 1:30-3:30

Be sure to look out for the April Book Store challenge (on display now), offering a prize for an original Louisville Slugger bat provided by Coca Cola. The entry with the most correct answers will win Louisville Slugger. The drawing will take place on 30 April 2015.