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Sgt. 1st Class Leona Brooks, first-year head coach of the Benedictine Military School Raider team, recounted the Cadets’ recent region championship in the pouring rain.

“Literally, the kids were running through huge puddles. They were flipping a tire in mud, and mud was splashing everywhere,” Sgt. Brooks said of the Oct. 12 competition, which simulates Army training exercises. “You see some of the pictures and they’re laughing even though it’s completely miserable conditions. That’s just the mentality that they have.”

The coaches were right there, too, in the splash zone.

“That’s the best part of the job, sir,” she said. “The action.”

Benedictine Military School has won every region title for male teams since 2018. The Cadets fielded four of the 19 teams from JROTC programs at nine different schools in the event, with each team including 12 boys. The BC Maroon varsity squad was first, the BC White varsity was third, the BC Gray 1 junior varsity was fifth and the BC Gray 2 JV was sixth.

BC won all five events: 5K run, one rope bridge, obstacle course, physical training test and tire flip.

The region, as it’s informally known, actually is Area 1 of the state under the U.S. Army Cadet Command 6th Brigade based at Hunter Army Airfield in Savannah. The 6th Brigade includes senior ROTC for universities and JROTC for high schools in Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and Puerto Rico.

“To be fair, we’re trying to grow Raiders within our region. So the level of competition when we go to state goes up dramatically,” said retired U.S. Army Lt. Col. Steve Suhr, Benedictine Senior Army Instructor and JROTC Department Chair.

He and Brooks, a JROTC instructor in her sixth year at BC and with the Raider program, said most of the best competition is in the Atlanta area and North Georgia.

“We travel a lot during the season just to get to some of that competition and see where we’re at,” Suhr said. 

Benedictine was running second in the opening meet in the fall in Adairsville in Bartow County when thunderstorms stopped the action. The Cadets won their other three meets, with the state championship next on Oct. 28 in Griffin. 

Benedictine captured state titles in 2019 and 2022, with a second place in 2021. The 2020 meet was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Brooks said a key to the program’s success is the older, more experienced Cadets take care of their younger teammates while making sure they put in the effort needed to perform on competition days.

“I think the biggest part is BC is known for its brotherhood as a whole,” Brooks said. “There’s another level of brotherhood when you talk about Raiders, the way the teams grow up. I think having our junior varsity grow up and having these seniors and juniors, basically all of the members of the varsity teams, mentoring them along the way so we have that development over the years.”

She said the JV squads are a mix of four grades. Benedictine requires all freshmen and sophomores to participate in JROTC, with about 85 percent of juniors and seniors choosing to continue, Suhr said. He said JROTC currently has 386 boys of the 410 enrolled in school.

The Raider Challenge team, or Raider team for short, has 50 boys.

“We’ve dealt with a couple of injuries,” Brooks said. “We’ve just always had the next person ready and knows exactly what to do and they can step in. So there’s not a lot of loss in continuity there.”

She also credits the support of parents and others, who have helped build obstacle courses and donated items such as tires, including the 600- to 800-pound tractor tires the boys learn how to flip in five-person teams.

“Huge tires,” Brooks said. “It’s pretty impressive, especially seeing our young guys when they’re first learning, the tire’s literally bigger than they are, taller than they are, and they’re still out there working it.”

Raider Challenge’s five events

The coach sent Prep Sports Report a written description of each of the five events at the region meet:

5k run: All members must stay together for the entire 3.1-mile run.

One rope bridge: Build a “bridge” using rope to traverse across a simulated river. All members of the team hook into the rope and cross the “water.” Time is stopped when all Raiders and equipment are clear.

Obstacle course: Run a designated course (one mile, in this case) and negotiate obstacles such as an 8-foot wall, low crawl through mud, belly buster (elevated logs that Raiders must jump over), staggered tires and vaults.

Physical training test: Move items weighing 25-35 pounds through a designated course, passing the items to the next Raider until all items have moved the length of the course.

Tire flip: Raiders split into two teams of five and flip a 600-800-pound tractor tire over a 50-meter course. The first team flips the tire down the course and the second team flips the tire back up the same course to the start line.

PHOTO CREDIT:  Kate Swann, courtesy of Benedictine's Raider team head coach Sgt. 1st Class Leona Brooks

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Optim Orthopedics supports Prep Sports and the following schools: Benedictine Military School athletics. Benedictine Military School team doctor is Dr. David Sedory. Remember, Optim Orthopedics gets you back into the game.