Pennsylvania Military Excellence Competition

The 3rd annual Pennsylvania Military Excellence Competition, hosted by Carnegie Mellon Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps was held this year on October 3rd.  For the second consecutive year, the midshipmen of Carnegie Mellon came away victorious.

MIDN 1/C Amakhtari, the Battalion Operations Officer, put together an outstanding competition. The event staff that he assembled ran the competition incredibly smoothly making it an enjoyable experience for all competitors and spectators.

This year Penn State NROTC, Villanova NROTC, University of Pennsylvania NROTC, and Penn State Air Force ROTC took the trip out to Pittsburgh to face the reigning champions CMU NROTC. Events this year included: track relays, swim relays, a basketball and dodge ball tournament, as well as an 8K through Schenley Park.

The morning started off with the events on the track: 4x100, 4x200, 4x400, 4x800, and DMR (Distance Medley Relay). CMU NROTC got off to a great start with 5 consecutive wins in all the track events that led to a lead that was never relinquished. The Marine PFT was the next event and once again CMU NROTC proved to be the best team. They defeated every team by a very decisive margin. Moving inside to the pool, an area where CMU has struggled in the past, the Swim MEC team performed with such intensity, that they left the pool with two 2nd place finishes behind a very strong PSU Navy team. In the traditional Basketball and Dodgeball tournaments at PennMEC, CMU got eliminated before getting to the championship game; however, hard work did not make the victory easy for the competition. All twelve of the competitors put in great effort in both tournaments. Unfortunately, they fell just short of the championship. The loss left a sour taste in the mouths of CMU NROTC, but this feeling is getting them ready for next year’s competition where they look to take some revenge. Finally, the day ended with an 8k run through Schenley Park. The running prowess of the CMU squad was shown once again when they took 1st through 5th place.

CMU NROTC’s victory of PennMEC 2009 is a testament to all the hard work and commitment to physical fitness that the midshipmen put in all year around.