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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
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 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 |
