Chapel Hill High School NJROTC Cadet Petty Officer Marlon Cruz-Johnson will compete in the Navy Orienteering Nationals next month against the top advanced runners in the country.
Orienteering (“O” for short) is a timed event across a mostly natural landscape, where participants navigate through a series of checkpoints using a topographical map along the way. The route from one checkpoint to the next isn’t marked. Each participant decides the best route on the run or walk.
An orienteer might be described as a part trail-runner and part map-and-compass guru, according to Lt. Commander Randy Cole, who is the lead NJROTC instructor at CHHS.
Cruz-Johnson, who is in charge of Chapel Hill’s Ordinance Department, will be competing against the top 75 individual runners in the country in the varsity advanced-runner category at the event, which is scheduled for March 15-17 at Kings Mountain State Park in Blacksburg, South Carolina.
“Marlon is very excited to represent Chapel Hill NJROTC and has set the bar for all our cadets by showing that hard work, dedication, and believing in one’s abilities can lead to great things in life,” Cole said.