With all of the talk focused on the returning Champions before the event, and rightfully so, many of the rookies to the event were overlooked. With 13 rookies walking onto the WDC floor for the first time, some were bound to find success. Damien Roth, last year's 4th place soloist at the high school level, once again captured 4th place solo, but this time on the Worlds pad. Liam Edgeworth, from Norwich University, joined up with sophomore year Franki Alano and was the only rookie to walk the stage at the end of the weekend, capturing 3rd Place in the tandem category. At the final bell, 4 rookies placed in the Top 20 in the preliminary round, Roth in 9th, plus Cheden Ragragola, Micah McConville, and Ta Nguyen in 17th, 18th, and 19th respectively. The future of WDC is bright with these rookies leading the charge and expressing their intent to return to the event better than ever in 2025. Full Rookie Results: SOLO: 4th (Medal Round) - Damien Roth 9th (Prelim Round) - Damien Roth 17th - Cheden Ragragola 18th - Micah McConville 19th - Ta Nguyen 22nd - Landon Gonzalez 25th - Davin Billingsley 26th - Christopher Nkwocha 27th - Nicholas Berumen TANDEM: 3rd - LIAM EDGEWORTH & Franki Alano 4th - ANDREW MERRILL & Trey Simmonds 8th - DAMIAN PRATT & WESLEY BOLING 10th - DAVIN BILLINGSLEY & JOSEPH BROTHERS
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In an unprecedented turn of events, River City Drill of Louisville, Kentucky completed a sweep of both the World Drill Championships and all male solo categories at this year's National High School Drill Team Championships. RCD captured the World Solo Championship, the World Tandem Championship, the All-Service Solo National Championship, and the Army Solo National Championship in one weekend. In addition, RCD also captured the Runner-Up and 3rd Place awards in the Worlds solo category, completing another sweep. Many of these feats had never before been accomplished, setting up a once-in-a-lifetime weekend for the team. In the process of all of these accomplishments, Jackson Rainwater also became the first individual to successfully defend his solo title at Worlds, winning back-to-back in 2023 and 2024. Full Awards List: World Drill Championships Solo: CHAMPION: Jackson Rainwater Runner-Up: Andrew Katz 3rd Place: Trey Davidson World Drill Championship Tandem: CHAMPIONS: Jackson Rainwater & Jonathan Ludwig NHSDTC: CHAMPION: Ethan Rader Army Nationals: CHAMPION: Bradley Davis The much beloved competition is preparing to make its triumphant return this September, hosted by Chris Johnson, with support from many of the competitions former directors. An SOP has been made public and competitors have already begun to rush to register to compete as the hiatus ends after 7 years. Registrations are still ongoing, but a roster current to August 1st can be found right here! The competition will be offering 3 categories to register for, those being armed solo, armed tandem, and unarmed tandem. Armed Solo: James Acala Port Richey, FL Fivay NJROTC Daniel Lindemann Dunedin, FL Dunedin NJROTC Emmanuel Larkins Clearwater, FL Dunedin NJROTC Robert Gonzalez Naples, FL Palmetto Ridge Bear Battalion, Northern Drillers Tyler Travaglino Dunedin, FL Jacksonville University NROTC Christian Rodriguez Tampa, FL Gaither NJROTC Andrew Geer Tampa, FL Independent Lance Manning Palm Bay, FL DMV Drillers Ana Gonzalez Rodriguez Lutz, FL Freedom NJROTC Dante Capello Hudson, FL Independent Hayden Giordano Cooper CIty, FL Cooper City High School Madison Miller Starke, FL Independent Julian Le Orlando FL Cypress Creek High School Angell Rodriguez Tampa, FL Independent Ethan Copenhaver Lake Mary, FL Lake Mary HS NJROTC Ethan Burton Lake Mary, FL Lake Mary HS NJROTC Isaac Ramirez Miami, FL Miami Coral Park SHS Army JROTC DJ Smith Marion, IN US Army Drill Team Oliver Eriksson Houston, Texas USADT Nathan Echstenkamper Dunedin, FL Dunedin NJROTC Aiden Trevorrow Dunedin, FL, Dunedin NJROTC Armed Tandem: Victor Garcia & Isaac Ramirez Miami, FL Miami Coral Park SHS Army JROTC Ethan Schaeffer & Robert Gonzalez Naples, FL Palmetto Ridge High School AJROTC Max Kalinowski & Isaiah Bracho Riverview, FL Riverview NJROTC, Northern Drillers Nathan Echstenkamper & Aiden Trevorrow, Dunedin FL, Dunedin NJROTC Unarmed Tandem: Jordon Adams & Bethany Lindemann Clearwater, FL Dunedin NJROTC The show will go on! In the early afternoon on February 11th, ADR was made aware of an email from SNI that was sent out to instructors across the country confirming the National High School Drill Team Championships will occur as a live event in Daytona Beach on its original dates. For more info or to register, please visit thenationals.net. In addition to the normal, live event, SNI has added a virtual event for those who cannot attend in-person for any reason. More information on this event can be found on the NHSDTC site. The World Drill Championships has also been confirmed to be a live event, first by Neriah Guerin of The Street Elite. WDC will occur on Saturday, May 1st at a currently unspecified time. This event is free to spectate, so do not miss out! Sources: The Lone Guard (email)
Neriah Guerin (WDC) Sports Network International The first-ever Legacy Drill Fall Competition has been announced, and contains some never-before seen elements! For the first-time a drill competition will have a focus on video editing, storytelling, and cinematography that compliments a competitor's routine to take it to the next level. From the SOP: "The goal of this competition to help drillers recognize the value of video editing in furthering the sport. This competition will allow competitors to showcase their ability to make amazing video content. The score sheet will include sections for video editing and cinematography. Use this opportunity to truly explore the art in drill." While we've seen a couple instances of storytelling and cinematography work in routines before (Andres Ryan NYDC 2020), this will be the first competition to have dedicated categories related to these concepts. According to the competition director, these are the judges: Head Judge - Andres Ryan: 6x World Champion with 15+ years in drill, Leader of Street Elite, with Blue Sling certification. 2nd Judge - Jonny Ludwig: FLDC Champion with 10+ years in drill, Leader of River City Drill, Founder of American Drill Report, with Blue Sling certification. 3rd Judge - Oscar Arroyo: Drill historian expert with 11+ years in drill, Trick drill expert, and Leader of California Independents. To sign up or view more information click this link: https://www.legacydrillers.com/fall-competition Disclaimer: THIS IS NOT A SERIOUS ARTICLE.
Only a few months after dropping out of the World Drill Championships for the most minor "injury" possible, Jonathan Ludwig, the co-founder of River City Drill, and most likely the best member, is poised for a WDC run never seen before. It was a finger cut by the way. On the non-dominant hand. The cut was closed by comp time. We have not yet seen a sweep of WDC in its newer format, but given that its only been around a year, this is not surprising. And if you know anything about drill. the fact that Kentucky boy Ludwig is ready to achieve the feat in its second year shouldn't be surprising either. Sporting purple highlights and an NGA butter blade, he shall cover the competition in a thin spreading of "I Can't Believe it's Not Butter (Joshua Gill)". Using a mix of the last few year's highest placers, he will be unnecessarily muscular, throw tricks that he isn't even sure exist, and then place a blindfold on before becoming a ninja. Also, wear gold somewhere. Gold wins. The most difficult part of the sweep will easily be the haircut. Many of you know him by his luscious, out-regs hair, and this can a large detriment on the score sheet. But who knows, even Chris Scanlan made the medal round this year, so it shouldn't be too difficult. I hate Chris Scanlan. I'm sorry. In its first year, the D.C. drill classic, hosted by some of the best in the business, had a largely successful day of competition. Competitors and attendees had nothing but good things to say about the competition and the venue. Look for this competition to continue to grow and attract high-level competition.
Results Videos Competitor Statements: Neriah Guerin (DC) - "I thought the competition was super fun. Cool people and a superbly well done setup. It was super clear that a lot of work went into making the competition look really good. Plus, even though the venue was on a military base, it was very easy for civilian guests to get through the gate. Everyone went out afterwards for a big group Korean barbecue visit. Absolute blast of a competition. I'll definitely be returning." Devin Jarrett (KY) - "It was easily one of the best events I’ve been to. It went very smoothly and I liked that we were able to get multiple angles of our routines from the GoPro and ODC footage. The judges were really good too. Justin Delaurier, Kevin Derochers, and there were representatives from the Coast Guard, Air Force, and Navy that helped judge too. It was definitely a 10/10 and I look forward to competing there again" Antonio Carreras (FL) - "The DC Drill Classic was an amazing weekend. Well worth the trip. Andres and Adam ran everything very smoothly and we had outstanding judges give great critiques and comments on all of our scoresheets. Overall it was an amazing event spending time with awesome people and I will definitely be back in DC whenever the next one comes around." A big congratulations to all the staff and judges who helped put on such a great event. Staff: Event Coordinators: • Andres Ryan • Adam Jeup Sponsors: • Independent Drill • Drill Warrior University • Elite Education & Training • New Guard America • The Street Elite Judges: 1. Head Judge - Captain Justin Delaurier (US Army | World Champion) 2. Midshipman Preston Webb (Naval Academy Silent Drill Team) 3. Senior Rifleman Kevin Desrochers (New Guard America) 4. Airman Koerber (Air Force Honor Guard Drill Team) 5. Seaman Tuel (Coast Guard Honor Guard) Videography: • Langston Nguyen • Adam Jeup Scoring Table: • Jessica Kim If you've been paying attention to the Facebook group, independent Drill, you may have noticed a few threads involving expanding the World Drill Championships with another category with groups of 3-6 competitors. This would not replace the current group category, but split and expand it. Tandems would go back to being its own category, and the groups would now allow up to 6.
The reasoning for such a category is simple on the outermost layer, rarely will a tandem beat a good group of 3 or 4 and this split removes that particular competitive advantage. The more detailed explanation and the one many people overlook, is that with the burgeoning number of independent "teams", along with college teams that already exist, there is finally enough interest in doing a team-like event at WDC. The question then becomes, could it be possible in the near future that WDC becomes a true team event, like the NHSDTC it is held alongside? For this to happen, we need to identify the main obstacles in the way. By far the largest obstacle, is the logistics and funding of expanding the event to that level. SNI already does an amazing job putting on NHSDTC and WDC as is, and it is no easy feat. Would making WDC a team event even be worth it to SNI? I don't have the answer to that, and if the answer ends up being a no, I couldn't blame them. Daytona weekend right now takes up all of 3 entire days, and adding more events might not necessarily make sense from their point of view. That alongside the fact that drill is a hobby to most, it's unknown whether competitors would be willing to put up the amount of money needed to compete in such an event. However, if all of that can be overcome, a WDC team event is the dream many don't even know they have. Think Texas A&M versus Sin City. Generation Drill versus Shock Platoon. NGA versus *insert service team here*. Everyone wants to say they're the best, this is the way to prove it. An overall team championship set up similar to NHSDTC with only exhibition events. Categories: Solo, Tandem, Group, Squad. Insane, right? Now think about this, in the last few years, the numbers for those competing in the World Drill Championships, especially in the solo category, have ballooned into the 30s, threatening to overload the category with too many people. If WDC became a team championship, you could limit solo entries to 2 or 3 per team, similar to NHSDTC. Yes, there would still be independents, but the number would most likely drop down into the 20s, a much more manageable number. If you talk to former cadets who were able to compete at NHSDTC with their school, the most fond memories are those of the team. The bonding experiences, the thrill of coming off the floor of team ex after a perfect run through, the months of practice with their team leading up to the first weekend of May. The chance to provide that once more to those who have graduated is coming. Will we be able to take that step? Excitement is in the air, as earlier today the World Drill Championships confirmed there is a pending entry from a foreign country. Which, in turn, would validate the competition's status as a WORLD level event. The only confusion is where the competitor is from.
The original post stated, "We have a pending entry from the ROK military in 2018...so strap it up.boys and girls, this is going to become a WORLD championship next year...." which seemed to infer the Republic of Korea, aka South Korea. This would not come as a surprise to many, as the American military has such a large presence in the country, and they have their own style of exhibition drill. The contradiction comes from another source high up in the hierarchy of leadership of the World Drill Championships. This source identified the competitor as a member of the Republic of China (Taiwan) military, but is later identified as a member of the Chinese military, so the true country of origin is unknown. A Chinese competitor would be a little bit more surprising, as the Chinese are not known for what we would call "exhibition drill", although many Eastern countries such as Taiwan, the Philippines, and South Korea are. Watching and competing against an international competitor from a country who's style of exhibition drill is widely unknown would be a fascinating experience, and lend credit to the name of the competition. Interestingly enough, there are also some reports of competitors from Taiwan showing interest in entering the competition, although this has yet to be confirmed by a Sports Network International or World Drill Championship official. Many have asked in the past how the sport could spread, and this provides a unique opportunity that WDC has been waiting for for 11 years. For the average driller though, the best thing to do is to provide exposure for the competition, share the videos, pick favorite drillers, represent them in a way you would any other professional team or player. Build a culture that other people want to be a part of. Every share, every comment matters. And arguably most important, SHOW UP. If you're in Daytona during WDC, and you aren't in the stands watching, barring any team events, you are only doing a disservice to the sport. When an outsider watches those videos, and sees a large engaged crowd, it's much more likely they will get involved too. Mob mentality goes a long way. Show up, cheer, get engaged. There's a possibility of this really becoming something special, don't miss out. |