Colorado Seen 03/2011
THE PROVING GROUNDS
Also n ICE RACING
From the Editor Somehow this turned into a “competition” issue. But it’s not surprising. From the Olympic training facility in Colorado Springs to downhill racing in Vail to the perennial football grudge matches between Colorado and Nebraska (or Colorado and Colorado State, for that matter), competition is built into the character of Colorado. In our continuing project documenting the High School Soldiers of Montbello High’s JROTC program, we exam the role of competition as a learning experience. And we meet up with a crazy group who think the slicker and colder the track, the better, as they race modified Jeeps and other 4x4’s on an oh-so-temporary winter track on Georgetown Lake. Bring your “A” game to Colorado!
Colorado Seen An internet image magazine Editor & Publisher Andrew Piper We welcome comments and letters. Submit them to: coloradoseen@comcast.net To submit work or story ideas for consideration, send an e-mail to: coloradoseen@comcast.net If you would like to advertise in ColoradoSeen, send an e-mail to coloradoseen@comcast.net for information on rates and interactive links. Copyright © 2011 ColoradoSeen
On the cover: The air rifle sight of a Montbello High School JROTC cadet draws a bead on the target during a statewide marksmanship competition.
Photographers ColoradoSeen is always looking for compelling photoessays about Colorado. Pitch your idea at www.coloradoseen.com
High School Soldiers: Second in a series
THE PROVING GROUNDS
Competing with other Colorado battalions is a key part of developing character and focus for Montbello High School’s JROTC cadets
Isaac Hernandez takes a moment to steady his nerves before making his next shot during a statewide JROTC marksmanship competition.
O
Story & Photos by Andy Piper
n the shooting range of the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, there is a deafening silence. Conversations are held in whispers — or more likely, taken outside. Movement is discouraged, lest a misstep disturb the participants’ quiet, concentrated tension. Yet the air crackles constantly with the syncopated pop and snap of competition air rifles, as fifty or more marksmen (and women) from
Colorado’s high school ROTC units go head-to-head in the final meet of the season. Among them, four riflemen from Denver’s Montbello High School.
T
en miles to the north, in the gigantic echoing field house of the U.S.Air Force Academy, another hand-picked Montbello squad is engaged in competition. But there is no silence here.
Nahun Rodriguez pushes himself to complete the highest number of pullups in a minute during a JROTC meet at the U.S. Air Force Academy.
Miguel Mu単oz removes the safety cord or clear barrel indicator (CBI) from his cempetition air rifle.
Grunts, groans, and yells of encouragement reverberate off the distant ceiling as the team struggles to beat other ROTC units in pull-ups, pushups, a mile run, and a 4x400 relay.
T
hese are among the proving grounds for Montbello’s high school soldiers — the places where skill and training cease to be academic exercises and are put to the test in the real world. “The big benefit (of competitions) for students is getting outside of Montbello and testing themselves against their peers in the wider world,” says U.S.Army Lt. Col. (ret.) Wayne Meeusen, Montbello’s senior ROTC instructor. “A lot of students wouldn’t get that chance otherwise. Competition teaches integrity and teamwork.” Rifle team member Francisco Morales echoes those thoughts. “I like the chance to travel, and to see if we’re a good team.” So does Luis Ortiz, part of the squad competing at the Air Force Academy. “I like the traveling, and testing my fitness against others.” Kalea Moore is also 7
On the firing line with the competition, Miguel Mu単oz takes aim.
Montbello ROTC shooting team coach and marksmanship instructor 1st Sgt., (ret.) Jerome Wilford tracks his team’s results with a spotting scope on the rifle range of the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. on the school’s regular track team, running the 100 and 200 dashes. But this only her second 4x 400 relay. “It’s different” says Moore, who is already a Cadet Sgt. 1st Class as a sophomore, and hopes to attend Norwich University orVirginia Military Academy when she graduates.
T
eams are selected by the retired Army sergeants who serve
as instructors and coaches, Sgt. 1st Class Tommie Harden and 1st Sgt. Jerome Wilford, with input from other team members and the battalion’s cadet officers.
Montbello’s ROTC program fields other teams besides shooting and athletics: Marching and drill teams with and without rifles, the Color Guard, and the Honor Platoon (who do a 9
Montbello rifleman Jose Pichardo checks his aim between shots with a spotting scope. In competition, shooters have 30 minutes to make twelve practice shots and ten that make up their score.
Montbello athletes Kalea Moore, left, and Blanca Castillo compete in a one-mile run on the track of the air Force academy field house.
Blanca Castillo puts maximum effort into her pullups. At four feet, eight inches, she just meets the requirements to join the U.S. Marines — her goal after high school. quick-stepping rhythmic riff on military drill moves not unlike Bill Murray’s “razzle-dazzle” exhibition in the movie Stripes. Those teams face their key competitive events later in March. Montbello’s achievements in the rifle and athletic competition are middle of the pack. The athletic team wins a trophy for third place in overall performance in the athletic meet, where many of the individual event trophies go to a Navy SEAL ROTC unit from nearby Fountain. In riflery the team 14
comes in tenth out of 26 teams. But in terms of the main goal of generating confidence and experience, they are a great success. Exhorting his formations regarding a different
kind of competitive drill, Colorado’s annual Student Assessment (CSAP) tests, which can make or break a school’s standing, Montbello’s fourth ROTC instructor, Command Sgt. Major (ret.) Patrick Roddy sums up why the competitive spirit is important. “Once you leave here, you are forever a Montbello Warrior.You will be known by what this school achieves. Buildings are not flesh and blood and bone. People are what make a school and its reputation.” n
Norberto Barraza grimaces as he tries to squeeze in another few pushups before time expires.
After his one-mile run, Luis Ortiz recovers on the turf of the Air Force Academy field house.
Athletic squad coach and ROTC instructor Sgt. 1st Class (ret.) Tommie Harden, 18
right, celebrates a third-place trophy for overall performance with his cadets. 19
Quick... Before it melts Ice racers on Georgetown Lake get in their final laps as spring thaws approach
Frozen Assets or frozen daiquiris? Dawn Huffaker’s ‘cheater’ tire spikes churn the surface of Colorado’s Georgetown Lake as she races to a victory.
Dawn Huffaker makes a victory lap with the checkered flag after her wheel-lifting race (previous pages) — and then (right) gets a hug from competitor Andrea Olson. Hefty spikes on the tires are called “cheaters.”
I
Story & Photos by Andy Piper
ce racing is essentially a simple sport. Find a lake frozen thick enough to hold 20 tons of 4x4s. Put the 4x4s on it. Go around in circles — fast.
But as with most things humans do, complexities creep into the details. First, there’s the lake. It needs to be big enough for a couple of tracks. Because once you’ve torn up the surface with two hours of racing, you need to move on to the next track until 22
Georgetown Lake
C
O
L
O
Mother Nature has restored the frozen surface with some freeze-and-thaw cycles. The lake at Georgetown, elevation 8,512 feet, is ideal. Then there are the 4x4s. While some are simply hopped-up Jeep Wranglers, many
R
A
D
O
have had a smallblock Chevrolet engine transplanted under the hood. Other have custombuilt frames as well, leaving little but sheet metal remaining to reveal their Jeep origins. Finally, there are the circles. NASCAR not-
23
Mark Lannerd laughs as he tries to pour frigid transmission fluid into his Chevypowered ice-racing Jeep. ‘It’s turned into grape jelly!’
Jim Olson adjusts a video camera on the roll cage of his Jeep-bodied, Chevy-powered racer “Black Ice.” Opposite, Olson uses body language to explain a cornering technique to his son, Bryce, behind the wheel.
A Coors beer can (another Colorado icon) captures radiator overflow on a custom-framed ice racer.
withstanding, just going around in a continuous left-hand turn isn’t that much fun. So a couple of curves are added.
And then a couple more — until the track layout resembles two gloves joined cuff to cuff, with lots of “fin-
gers” to negotiate. With all those curves, side-by-side racing would be a bit — tricky. So ice races are run as pursuit races, with each driver carefully staged to a start/finish line on opposite sides of the track. The winner is the first to complete one lap.
I
ce racing is one sport where cheaters are welcome. At least the kind that grow on
tires.
These sharpened bolts give the ultimate in grip for ice racing. There’s an attractive heavymetal kinkiness to the chrome ones, especially when mounted on fresh shiny black rubber. All-black ones give tires the menace of a WWII naval mine. Simpler studs (and even bare rubber) are used for some races. With less grip, stud races have a different dynamic than cheater races, with smooth gliding cornering that generates a 27
Herringbone stud marks contrast with regular tire tracks as they crisscross the 22-inchthick ice. Car names, opposite, carry a theme of ‘cold.’
When using studded tires instead of the more aggressively spiked cheaters, drivers slide through turns with less tip but more spray.
Traction isn’t a problem as Keenan Magnus, 5, tries to drive his microradio-controlled 4x4 on the lake. But the frigid temperatures shut down his batteries.
blizzard instead of the hailstorm of ice chips kicked up by the skittering, hopping turns on cheaters.
I
t’s a funny thing.
When summertime car racers finish a race, usually the first thing they do is take off their hot, stuffy helmets. Ice racers tend to keep theirs on — they keep out the cold and the wind. The cold is not inconsiderable. It does keep the cars from racing on mud 40 feet below the lake surface. But it also makes for interesting moments, as when racer Mark Lannerd tries to top up his transmission fluid. Glops of frigid purple oil ooze from the bottle. “It’s turned into grape jelly,” laughs Lannerd. But spring is just around the corner. Soon the race track will be too thin for racing —and then for ice fishing — and then it will revert to a really nice swimming hole. But come next December. . . n 33