Romeoville High School's MCJROTC Drill Team Heads To Nationals

ROMEOVILLE, IL — Romeoville High School's Marine Corps Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps (MCJROTC) is headed to Nationals, and the program is hosting a National Team Send-Off Night on April 8.

The public is welcome to attend the send-off, which will be held at Romeoville High School's main gym from 4:30 to 6 p.m. Wednesday.

The National Drill Team of the program will perform all their events at the send-off, Senior Marine Instructor and retired U.S. Marine Corps Master Gunnery Sgt. Jonathan Couturier said.

The team will leave early Thursday for the competition in Georgia.

Couturier said the drill team competes at various local competitions to qualify for Nationals.

The drill season starts in August, and students train through April if teams qualify for Nationals. This year, the team competed in six local competitions, and won 43 trophies, including 21 first place finishes.

Couturier said the Romeoville MCJROTC drill team competed in Indianapolis in January at the Regional Drill Competition and placed third overall. The regional included teams from 11 states.

Earning a top 5 finish qualified the team for pre-Nationals competitions. Couturier said a recording of each drill is then submitted to an independent judging board in Texas.

In February, Romeoville MCJROTC was selected as one of only nine drill teams in the country that was invited to compete in this year’s Marine Corps JROTC National Drill Championship. Couturier said this is the first time that a Marine Corps JROTC program in Illinois has accomplished this.

“Every year, I set a goal to qualify for Drill Nationals, and after many years of hard work and building this program to a necessary caliber, it is so gratifying to accomplish this goal," Couturier said. "I couldn’t be prouder of my cadets because we’ve put in a lot of time and effort in this endeavor. Being a nationally ranked program is absolutely tremendous and validates the unmatched winning culture and what it takes. I can’t wait to compete against this year’s best in Georgia, and no matter how well we do, the lowest we can achieve is ninth in the entire nation. What an absolutely historic accomplishment!”