The recent Dekaney Drill meet  was a challenge for the Tomball ROTC unit. The unit competed in Armed and Unarmed drill, Color guard, and a Physical and Academic test.

“All of the drill teams performed well,” said Levi Borrego, the Commander of the Armed drill team. “Our PT (physical test) was a little bad… but my teammates did their respective jobs well.”

Armed and Unarmed each created their own unique exhibition drill, which they have been working on since the beginning of the year. Borrego is proud of the work that his team has put into memorizing and perfecting it.

Matthew Cline, the Operations officer of the unit, said his team did “brilliant” on the academic test. “We were well prepared,” he said.

The Drill teams meet almost every day after school, and stay until 4:30 in the weeks leading up to a drill meet to prepare. Some members met on weekends to get extra practice by their own initiative.

“There were some schools there who were at a state level,” said Neyfi Jorge, commander of the unarmed team, “But I think we did good overall.”

This drill meet was the last qualifier of the year, meaning the last chance to make it into the state competition. Sadly, the teams did not qualify for state this year, though they are hopeful for next year. The teams will be attending another drill meet soon at Rice University, though it is not a qualifier for State.

The teams placed 13^th overall out of 31 schools. Only the top 2 schools made it to the state competition.