Marmion drill team wins seven first-place trophies
Marmion's Flannigan Rifles Drill Team competed at Springfield High School in Maumee, Ohio, March 6, winning seven out of a possible 11 first-place trophies.
This included the John Gardner Commander's Cup for an overall meet win. On March 27, they competed in their final regional meet of the season, the Earnest Dawson Memorial Drill Meet at Romeoville High School. There they won seven out of a possible nine first-place trophies and brought home the overall Commander's Cup first-place trophy.
First-place trophies were earned at the Springfield meet by Ryan Brisson of North Aurora and Michael Gallaway of Sugar Grove, Armed Duet Exhibition; Connor Vass of Geneva, Armed Solo Exhibition; Armed Exhibition Squad, commanded by Michael Gallaway of Sugar Grove; IDR Squad A, commanded by Andrew Schroeder of Batavia; and Armed Inspection Platoon, commanded by Michael Lopez of Aurora.
At the Romeoville meet, first-place trophies went to Michael Lopez of Aurora, who led the IDR Squad to their fourth consecutive first-place trophy; Ryan Brisson and Michael Gallaway, Armed Duet Exhibition; Armed Exhibition Squad, commanded by Michael Gallaway; Unarmed Exhibition Platoon, commanded by William Callahan of St. Charles; Color Guard, commanded by Kevin Garofalo of Aurora; and IDR Inspection, commanded by Andrew Schroeder.
Several hundred cadets competed individually in the Knockout competition (a test to execute commands in rapid succession). Marmion swept the top three spots at Romeoville in the Armed Knockout: Eddy Grahovec of Yorkville, Matthew Derrico of Batavia and Andrew Slade of St. Charles.
In the Unarmed division, Michael Lopez placed third. At the Springfield meet, Robert Voirin of Yorkville finished third place in the Armed competition and Mitchell Loehmann of Big Rock took first place in the Unarmed division.
Flannigan Rifles Drill Team, directed by John Gissel, SGM, USA (Retired) will be competing next in the National Drill Meet Competition held in Daytona Beach, Fla. the first weekend in May.
For information, visit the Flannigan Rifle Web site at www.marmion.org/academy/drill.html.