East Union High’s annual Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps Raiders Competition / Drill and Ceremony Saturday attracted some 200 participants from 11 schools.

Ripon took overall honors in the Drill and Ceremony. Included were color guards, squad without arms and with arms; and platoon with and without arms.

The host Lancers Battalion captured the overall Raiders Competition title, with the events consisting of land navigational skills, obstacle course, and arm wrestling.

Cadet Joey Keith was among the first-place finishers in the arm wrestling competition sponsored by the US Marine Corps Recruiting Office, defeating his Manteca High counterpart. For Sacramento resident Colonel Kevin Holeman, who is a first-time Senior Army Instructor, he got a sample of the Lancers-Buffaloes cross-town rivalry.

Holeman started five months ago at the helm of the East Union JROTC program.

“Our long-term goal is to make this EU event the premiere JROTC Raiders event on the West Coast,” he said.

On the distaff side, Marlene Rodriguez led the Lancers by taking first-place in arm wrestling.

In the obstacle course, EU led by Raiders team captain Mitchell Hale was nearly 50 seconds better than the field.

“The average team finished our obstacle course in 2 minutes, 46 seconds. We did it in 1 minute, 58 seconds,” Holeman said.

Other teams competing in the events featuring Army, Navy and Air Force JROTCs included Lathrop, Sierra, Weston Ranch, Turlock, Franklin, Edison as well as Casa Robles and Rio Linda from the Sacramento area.

“There was a lot of work that went into putting together this all-day event,” said Holeman. “If students weren’t participating, they were helping out by setting up or taking down (the venue) after each event.”

All told, EU accommodated 600, according to Holeman, from participants to parents and support staff.