Arlington Troop 111 from Chain Bridge District won the troop championship at the 46th Annual Maryland Scout Orienteering Day on October 22, 2022 at Broad Creek Scout Reservation in northern Maryland. It was their 7th title, breaking the event record. Kensington Troop 439 from Potomac District was 2nd amongst 40 units for the 2nd straight year.
John Corso of Troop 111 edged out troop-mate Hayden Burnside to win the advanced category. Zack Sheehey from Arlington’s Troop 647 was 3rd and Max Wang from McLean’s Troop 652 was fourth.
Luke Zamoyta and Potter Hopfensperger from Troop 111 topped the 154-scout older category ahead of Troop 647’s Connor Jones/ Jack Wall and 3rd place Jimmy Mazel/ Liam Merrigan from Troop 164 in Arlington. In the 172-scout younger class, Troop 111’s Brendan Kent/ Ryan Parks won by a wide margin over a 2nd place team from near Annapolis.
Troop 439’s team effort was led by SPL Alex Johnson who, with Mike Mueller, were 5th in the older category and excelled in the fun “free-for-all” afternoon Score Orienteering when 340 youth and nearly 100 adults raced around the forest seeking as many of the 56 different markers scattered over five square miles as they could. The morning included several instructional courses on a brand new color map.
The top 23 in the younger category were from 18 different troops. Each scout and participating adult received three
special color maps and everyone got answer keys, instructional tips, and patches. Over 100 awards were presented, many to girls, including Kendall Kovarik from the Girl Scout Camp Tuckerman staff outdoor adventure program, the first girl to complete the advanced course in its 36-year history of 525 boys, nabbing 7th place.
In 2023 Jim Chaplin’s popular 17th Annual NCAC Scout Orienteering Day will be on May 6 at Kings Landing Park in Calvert County (jhchaplin@comcast.net). The 47th Annual MD Scout Orienteering Day will be at Patuxent River Park near Upper Marlboro on Oct. 28, 2023. Look for more details (and full results from 2022) at BaltimoreBSA.org/orienteering, plus information via qocweb.org for good DC-area orienteering events suitable for scouts.
Photos: NCAC’s 1st & 2nd place champions. Photo by Stan Turk.
Finding a marker. Photo by Bill Zerfas.
