The NIU ROTC ranger team placed first in the Humvee pull at the recent 2007 Northern Region ROTC 9th Brigade Ranger Challenge.

The Humvee pull event consists of treating a cadet with three simulated wounds, then radioing a helicopter to pick up the wounded cadet. The ranger team must then pull a “disabled” Humvee out of the helicopter’s landing zone.

NIU’s team scored highest in the medical portion and took about 50 seconds to pull the Humvee, said Mike Cramer, senior kinesiology major and ROTC cadet.

“[The Ranger competition] is all about teamwork,” Cramer said. “It also gives cadets points for when they go for their commissions.”

The team, comprised of 10 NIU ROTC students, trained for five weeks leading up to the event, Cramer said.

“Our brigade colonel says it is the varsity sport of ROTC. All the best cadets from each school in our brigade make a ranger team and we go to Fort McCoy, Wis., and compete in a three-day competition,” said Ryan Reyes, sophomore political science major and squad leader of the ranger platoon.

Two members of the team, Jennifer Yurkovic and Tosha Nichols, tied for first place in the women’s pushups portion of the Army Physical Fitness Test. Each completed 50 pushups in two minutes.