ARLINGTON — Arlington High School again hosted the annual Northwest Drill and Rifle Competition Dec. 12, with the AHS Air Force and Marysville Naval Junior ROTC cadets distinguishing themselves in a field that included five other high schools and more than 400 students.

Retired Air Force Maj. Mike Blue, senior aerospace science instructor for the Arlington program, reported that Cadet Amber Blankenship scored third in the Armed Drill Team Commander category, while Cadet J’Lanaye Julien ranked second in the “Iron Woman” Female Physical Fitness Scores.

Arlington’s other placements included fourth in Color Guard 1, seventh in Color Guard 2, fifth in Unarmed Drill Team, fourth in Unarmed Drill Team Commander, fifth in Armed Drill Team, fourth in Dual Unarmed Exhibition Drill, sixth and 10th in Iron Woman and ninth in Iron Man.

Arlington’s Physical Strength Team of Julien, Cloey Archey, Hallie Williams, Joseph Shipley and Cameron Freeman came in third. Blue explained that PSTs are either three men and two women or three women and two men, which means that a minimum of 22 women competed. All of the Arlington women finished in the top 10.

For Air Rifle Marksmanship, Arlington’s top finisher was Cody Barschaw, who ranked 19th out of 64 competitors.

Blue is just as proud of his cadets’ service outside the classroom and competition floor, noting that they’ve clocked more than 300 hours of community service for 12 local organizations in 2015.

Navy Chief Kathy Wilde, naval science instructor for the Marysville program, had plenty to crow about with her own cadets’ performances.

Among Marysville’s first-place scorers were Cadet Tyler Archambeault in the Individual Armed category, the Unarmed Drill Team led by Cadet Micah Adriano and the Armed Drill Team led by Cadet Sydney Vidal. Adriano and Vidal also won first place in the Unarmed and Armed Drill Team Commander categories, respectively.

Marysville took second place for Color Guard 1, led by Battalion Commanding Officer Cadet Tiffany Johnstone, and for cadets Lyndon Gonzales and C.J. Pamintuan’s performance in Unarmed Duals.

Cadets Fitz Varias and Joshua Docuyanan earned Marysville third place in Unarmed Duals, while Battalion Operations Officer Cadet Lester Flores led Marysville’s Color Guard 2 to another third-place score. Cadet Joshua Nye led Marysville to its first-ever third-place score in the Air Rifle Teams category.

Out of 64 shooters, Marysville Cadet Carol Kovalenko ranked fifth, and Marysville had seven shooters in the top 25.

Wilde pointed out that Marysville’s cadets are drawn from seven high schools, not just Marysville-Pilchuck.

“All of the competitors looked amazing, and it was evident how hard everyone has been working,” Wilde said. “This was the first of our meets for the season, and we could not be more excited.”

Marysville’s next meet is at Oak Harbor Jan. 16.

“We know we are competing against the best leaders from these schools,” Wilde said. “We are looking forward to the challenge.”

This December, the Marysville cadets have volunteered for the Salvation Army, the Marysville Community Food Bank, Providence Hospital and the Lights of Christmas.