On Dec. 3 at 5:43 p.m., the sun was fading on the horizon at Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo High School in Long Beach. The Naval Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (NJROTC) field meet team, however, was still ablaze with whoops and hollers, unwavering smiles, and hands raised, pumping the air with excitement. After two years of not competing, the team placed fourth overall out of 14 teams at their first field meet competition of the season, and qualified for the Area 11 Field Meet Championship, also known as the Super Bowl, in California.

“Especially because we are an extremely small unit compared to others in California, I couldn’t be more proud of what my cadets have done leading up to the field meet, and I feel that with this win, it proves that we can do so much even with our small numbers,” Commanding Officer Jacelyn Macaraeg (12) said. “I believe that our win will bring up the unit’s morale and encourage us to keep striving to be better throughout the rest of this field meet season and into years after I graduate.”

Macaraeg first participated in field meet season as a freshman, but due to the pandemic during her sophomore year and internal conflicts in leadership her junior year, she is now leading the unit at a field meet in her second season during her senior year. Her responsibilities have significantly increased since she first started.

“[During my freshman year], when the field meet came around, I didn’t see it as too stressful because I was a part of the physical training teams instead of the drill teams,” she said. “As a senior, it’s a big difference [from freshman year], because I’m not following anyone anymore. It’s me making the decisions and making sure that everything is running smoothly. So I try my best to navigate my way through this whole field meet season from my knowledge as a freshman.”

NJROTC adviser Captain Thomas Adams said that despite them being the underdog—the unit was 150% smaller than before the pandemic, and they haven’t competed in two years—he still had the same expectation for the team: “Don’t get last place.”

“At the end of the day, it’s not me who’s on the competition pad; it’s the cadets,” he said. “They are the ones who win or do well or not. My job and [Sergeant Major Ron Hoffman’s] job is to facilitate them being able, when they are giving their best, to do well. Through all the practices we have before and after school, we try to get them prepared.”

NJROTC far surpassed these expectations. They won second in color guard, where there were four cadets: two holding fake rifles, one holding the American flag, and another holding the Navy’s flag. In physical training (PT), they placed fourth in push-ups, third in the 16-by-100 relay, and fourth overall in PT. They also placed fourth in inspection, where cadets had their uniforms inspected, and their military knowledge tested. They received third in unarmed basic, where they presented assigned drill movements.

“I was amazed that we did that well having not had a whole school year of experience, because they didn’t return to field meet during last school year, and we were unable to compete at all,” Adams said. “The fact that we showed up with only three competitors with field meet experience and the rest with none, it was phenomenal that the team did so well.”

After the award ceremony, as they waited for their delayed bus, in the midst of the darkening sky with pink streaks and specks of orange, the team did 22 push-ups for the year 2022. As cheesy as it may have seemed, the whole team joined in.