Run to victory for Lakewood Ranch High

When Kora Turner, a senior at Lakewood Ranch High School, walked into Lt. Col. Richard Roller’s classroom March 29, she was delighted to see a 3.5-foot championship trophy for the junior ROTC orienteering state title.

Turner, a company commander on the school’s JROTC orienteering team, said four years of hard work paid off March 27 when the team competed at the state championship at Jay B. Starkey Wilderness Park in Pasco County. Turner was unaware of the event’s results until she saw the trophy. 

“It’s been a long time coming,” Turner said. “In our regular competitions, we always like to bring home the first-place team awards and overall awards. For the past few years, we just haven’t been able to pull off [a state championship], so this year with it being my senior year and being able to pull this off was a big thing. I know for all the seniors that have been running, we’re excited to bring home a championship.”

It marked the first orienteering state championship in Lakewood Ranch High JROTC’s history. The JROTC program started an orienteering team six years ago.

The Lakewood Ranch High students described orienteering as “cross-country with a map.”

“We were determined,” said Matthew Boudreau, a junior and company commander. “We just got off spring break the week before, and we were pounding it out trying to make sure we knew what we were doing and weren’t going in blind.”

Roller said winning the state championship was fulfilling for him as a coach, but he knows that winning isn’t everything.

“You always want to win, obviously, but I tell my students that if we go out and do our best and do the basics of what we’re supposed to do, it doesn’t matter where we place,” Roller said.

The orienteering team implemented COVID-19 health and safety measures that included wearing a mask, limiting students to small groups, practicing social distancing and conducting temperature checks.

Although practices were different due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Roller said the orienteering races were similar to competitions before the pandemic began because participants were running the courses on their own.

The state championship was originally scheduled for North Port High School but was switched to Jay B. Starkey Wilderness Park due to the pandemic.

Turner, Boudreau and Roller said the change of venue for the competition caused a few challenges because the team had never run the course before, so the team used Google Earth and Google Maps to study the terrain.

“It was a little nerve-wracking, but as long as we stuck to the basics, we did fine,” Boudreau said.

With all the changes at school as a result of COVID-19, Turner said winning the championship has been a highlight of her senior year.

“I know it was something that made every one of the seniors smile this year,” she said.