The Institute Report, April 2009, Page 13
VMI Defeats Tech on the Trebuchet By Wendy Lovell Two trebuchets made a formidable The competition consisted of accuracy appearance on the parade ground on and distance challenges. Each team March 28. Any fears that a war was had two opportunities to land as close about to begin at the Virginia Military as possible to a target 100 feet down Institute were alleviated as observers range. Virginia Tech won that portion realized the projectiles were only of the competition, coming within 7 feet cantaloupes, not something more of the target compared to VMI’s 8 feet dangerous. four inches. The smashing cantaloupes were On the distance challenge, VMI part of a competition between the launched its cantaloupe 273.8 feet away VMI and Virginia Tech student to Tech’s 157.5. The two teams agreed chapters of the Society of American on a second distance challenge for the Military Engineers. Member Cadet third battle in the competition. VMI Kip Joerdens ’09 hopes it will again launched its cantaloupe farther, become an annual contest involving 257.3 feet to 144.8. more college chapters. Cadets manning the VMI trebuchet and a crowd of onlookers Using an equation to convert the A civil engineering major, Joerdens observe as the Virginia Tech trebuchet launches its cantaloupe distances into points, it was determined was one of six cadets in VMI’s SAME in a failed attempt to defeat VMI. – VMI Photo by Kevin Remington. that VMI had won the war over Tech, 19 chapter to help build the trebuchet to 9.7 points. over the past few months. Under the direction of Cadet Andy Tunnell In addition to having fun, the students from both schools learned how to ’11, the VMI team constructed a siege machine that stood up to the maximize the trebuchet’s use of leverage to propel the cantaloupes farther challenge. and more accurately.
Skeet Club Competes in National Tournament By Brittany Tombarge The VMI Trap and Skeet Club last month competed in the National Collegiate Clay Target Championships in San Antonio, Texas, where the team placed 28th out of 38 schools in skeet, trap, and five-stand sporting clays. “I think we did very well considering it was our first year ever having a team and going to the tournament. We have a miniscule budget compared to many if not most of the 38 schools represented at the tournament, and we only competed in three of the five events,” commented Lt. Col. Mitch Fridley ’89, assistant commandant, who coaches the team with Sgt. Maj. John Neel. “Perhaps most importantly, all five of my cadets represented themselves very well, behaved like gentlemen, showed great poise and sportsmanship, and left all they met and competed against with a positive impression of and respect for VMI.” The schools the team competed against included Virginia Tech, Texas A&M University, and the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. The team, which is only in its first year of competition, hadn’t been active since 1997. Last year a few cadets, including Sloan Burns ’10, Travis Mulkey ’08, and Evan Berenholtz ’09, expressed an interest in reviving the club. “Before coming to VMI, I met a group of active
VMI alumni shooters and decided that I wanted to bring back the VMI skeet team and set the goal of making the team a competitive club,” explained Burns. The club was restarted with the help of Neel and Fridley. “We’re average shooters ourselves. We decided we’d invest our time and get this thing up and running,” said Neel. “We were able to compete more and more this year due to a bigger budget provided to us by Cadet Life. The three of us [cadets] put in a lot of work and a lot of time last year to be able to get the team off of the ground,” said Berenholtz. The team practices Tuesdays and Thursdays for around two hours at the skeet and trap range at VMI’s McKethan Park. Team members also occasionally shoot sporting clays at a local range. Skeet is shot from a “high house” and a “low house,” with the shooter rotating through eight stations, shooting a total of 25 “birds” in one round, said Burns. Trap is shot with five shooters standing on a straight line 16 yards behind the trap bunker. The “birds” will fly out of the trap, which swings back and forth so that the shooter does not know where the “bird” will fly from when he calls, “pull.” The cadets come from a variety of backgrounds.
Some, like Burns, who is ranked in the top 10 nationally and has been shooting since he was 11 years old, have previous skeet team experience. Others developed an interest in shooting through hunting. Three upper class cadets will return to the team next year, and 28 cadets have already signed up for this month’s tryouts. Neel said there are many reasons for cadets to join the skeet team. “All cadets should have some type of competition that they do,” said Neel. In addition, Neel said, it’s an opportunity to build friendships with their peers at other schools and develop hand-eye coordination and athletic skills. “It’s just a way for cadets to go out and do something interesting and exciting,” he added. The members agree that they have it tougher than most of the schools they’re competing against due to VMI’s strict academic and military schedule, which leaves them little time to practice. Even with this challenge, team members are proud of their progress and have high hopes for the future. “We are yearning for better scores and more competitions next year. I know myself and the coaches want to bring some awards back to the Institute,” said Burns.