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This year's Daytona continued River City's historic run, as Trey Davidson and Andrew Katz combined to capture the solo and tandem championships at the 2025 World Drill Championships. Trey's victory comes on the heels of Jackson Rainwater's repeat wins in 2023 and 2024, while Rainwater came just shy of the first-ever individual three-peat, placing 2nd. Davidson's victory was largely due to staying true to himself, leaning heavily on his trademark precision instead of the many high-flying tricks of his fellow competitors. This was an emotional victory, as it was the first time Davidson was able to walk the stage in Daytona, despite placing on the podium in 2 other events. The first was a 4th place finish in the 2020 edition of NHSDTC, which occurred online due to COVID. The second was last year's WDC solo category, when an inadvertent announcement error lead to the incorrect 2nd and 3rd place finishers being announced. While this was rectified backstage, the moment was lost.
To add to the jubilation, Davidson also took 1st in the tandem category, along with the ever-beloved Andrew Katz. A full circle moment, Davidson and Katz were able to complete their journey they began in 2022 with a 4th place finish, walking across the stage together as they became World Champions for the first time. All told, River City Drill took home the first 6 placements in the WDC solo category, along with 8th. This was the first time a single team had placed 7 members in the medal round, breaking their own previous record of 5. Ethan Rader successfully followed up his 2024 National Championship with a debut 3rd place solo. RCD also swept the tandem category, taking home 1st through 3rd, and in the process Bradley Davis and Alex Stratton earned their first WDC medals as tandem runners-up. RCD will be in action next at RCDC on July 5th, in their hometown of Louisville, Kentucky.
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The 2025 edition of the World Drill Championships heralded the routine of the long-awaited group event, a 3-5 minute routine with 3 or more competitors, which had not been contested in 7 years. This year's event brought 5 of the world's best post-HS drill teams to Daytona Beach, including multi-time collegiate champions Norwich University, the reigning NATCON champion USAFA, multi-time World Champions River City Drill, the historic North Georgia University Blue Ridge Rifles, and the newly formed American Independents. This star-studded line-up was placed in primetime, as the last WDC event of the weekend on Sunday afternoon, making it the most-watched part of the event.
Coming in to the event, there was little to separate the teams, as most had never competed in this format against one another. USAFA was flying high after a victorious NATCON a little over a month before. Norwich leaning on their Shock tradition to stun new audiences. Each team took a different approach, some leaning into their military roots like USAFA and UNG. Others, like RCD and American Independents, went in a new direction to test the waters of innovation. Norwich, however, trusted their brand of powerful, quick movements leaving the audience in awe of their talent. Led by junior Franki Harah-Alano, Norwich quickly grabbed everyone in the room's attention and by the routine's end it appeared clear who would be walking home with the title. Despite the efforts of their competitors, this was confirmed at the end-of-night awards ceremony when Norwich was announced as the Champions of the group event and rightfully took the stage to receive their flowers. As an added bonus, the storied university and the Shock Platoon were also chosen to be forever enshrined in the Military Drill Hall of Fame due to their long tradition of excellence and standout victories through the decades. Two notable alumni, LtCol Blake Jackson and Andrea Bryant, both serving as judges for other facets of the event, were present to receive this prestigious award. The 2023-2024 drill season has come to an end, and with it we have a plethora of new champions, memories, friends and more to bring with us into the new year. This year saw many ups and downs both on and off the pad that shaped the vision for the future of independent rifle exhibition drill. One that garnered attention due to its focus on the future was the Rifle Exhibition Invitational (referred to as REI). This event welcomed individuals solely through invitation to compete at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Knoxville, Tennessee in an competition hosted by the Rifle Exhibition League (REL) alongside the Pershing Rifles NATCON college national championships. The Rifle Exhibition Invitational brought a sense of newness to the community, re-introducing a scoring system and setup that was tested prior through the MassDrill Online Drill Classic. Much like its predecessor this competition focused on showcasing performance through the lens of bladed rifle exhibition only. Although a trial run within its own right, the REI set itself to become a showcase competition that hosted the “best of the best” - only inviting certain world’s level competitors and judges to assist in the competitions debut. The invitation list was set by the league's interim board of directors and reported by the American Drill Report on February 24, 2024. At its announcement, the community was made privy to the seven (7) competitors that had been invited and were planning to take on the challenge in Knoxville. In this list we saw names such as River City Drills own Jackson Rainwater [1] and Trey Davidson [8], with Trey Simmonds [2], Noah Calvert [4] and Isaac Rodriguez [11] representing the Texas Lone Guard. We were also slated to see the unofficial debut of the American Independents through Adam Jeup’s performance with Angell Rodriguez being the only confirmed independent on the competition roster. Come competition day - due to different circumstances and such we only saw 6 competitors perform, with one being a last second addition in the form of Mack Weisz. (sans Angell Rodriguez and Noah Calvert.) The American Drill Report was lucky to have the opportunity to both provide media coverage for the competition and to catch up with some of the performers and staff after to hear how they felt about the event from their points of view! Arianna Guerin, who served as a part of the judging staff had this to say: “I loved being a part of the judging “corps" as the only woman. It was a big moment for me professionally to be able to judge performers I've admired for so long.” When interacting with the competitors - we asked them questions such as What does REI do well?: “Allows the competitors to have fun and not be stressed “ - Isaac Rodriguez (competitor) “Format of competition and judging/win conditions. “ - Neriah Guerin (competition staff/announcer) “Adding Disqualification Clauses and the idea of having only very experienced drillers participate” - Mack Wiesz (competitor) What were your least favorite parts of REI? (Before, during, after?): A main pain point for competitors was REIs connection to Pershing Rifles NATCON (the venue, the audience, etc.) with one competition staff member saying “A well designed competition format deserves to be spectated in a well curated event space.” One individual stated their thoughts of REI “needing more participation from competitors and audience members.” solidifying the prior thought. What were your favorite parts of REI? (Before, during, after?): “The freedom we had to do what we wanted. No stress at all. No uniform. I was relaxed the entire time. “ “The performers were all obviously talented and I felt that announcing rifle weights was a nice feature of the spectacle.“ - Although a trial run, the debut of the Rifle Exhibition Invitational has set up a solid foundation and future for the Rifle Exhibition League. No person or competition is perfect but in its current state we can confidently say that we are excited to see the debut and formation of the Rifle Exhibition League. Recently announced by Andrew Schuster (interim head of the REL, founder of MassDrill) the league is looking to launch and host its first elections sometime in June. With the by-laws available to the public we look forward to covering the future of rifle exhibition drill through this new platform. You can watch the 2024 REI Competition videos here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epzPR9v8MKs&list=PLjm-hCyfAwSMh9IKXVSAyWwf6ETcqeef9
 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  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 Below are the current SDT Rankings through 3 out of 4 events! The awards ceremony of this years tour will happen at the Lone Star Championships in San Antonio, Texas - hosted by Drill Warrior University  Find information below on the 2023 Summer Drill Tour Itself with links to registration, SOP and more
Correlations Between Category Score and Placement By Competitor at the Lone Star Championships 202112/25/2021 ABSTRACT
In competitive rifle exhibition drill, there are many common refrains related to the judging and scoring of routines. These include but are not limited to, specific categories on the scoresheet influence placement more than others and specific judges influence placement more than others. To begin looking for any truth to these statements, data from the Lone Star Championships 2021 (LSC) was used to create correlational models relating individual judges and their scores to competitor placement in the preliminary round. This dataset suggests that at LSC 2021, individual categories did strongly correlate (r ³ 0.90) to placement, these being “Impression”, “Composition and Flow”, “Handling”, “Marching”, “Precision”, and “Showmanship”. Read the Rest 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 |
