The Wildcat Battalion is back in a familiar spot — first place.

The Oak Harbor High School NJROTC drill and rifle competitive teams reclaimed first place in the regional competition Saturday, March 19, at Bethel High School in Spanaway.

The Wildcats, led by Chief William Thiel and Commander Mike Black, finished second to Port Angeles last year after capturing the previous two titles. Oak Harbor has now finished among the top three in the past six years.

The region includes teams from all services and 31 schools, ranging from Oak Harbor in the north to Oregon City in the south. The 31 schools are split into four divisions, and Oak Harbor won the Olympic Division title this year before taking the regional crown.

In overall regional scoring, Curtis finished second and Oregon City third behind the Wildcats.

Twenty-eight schools qualified athletes for the regional tournament, which included about 900 cadets.

The drill, rifle, color guard and physical fitness teams for each school had to finish among the top three in their divisions during the regular season to earn a spot in the regional meet.

Oak Harbor won three of the seven team events at the regional, led by its shooters. The precision and sporter air rifle teams, coached by Dave Goodman, each won titles, as did the unarmed drill team, which took its fourth consecutive championship.

Eight individual Wildcats earned medals for placing among the top six.

Callie Nuttall took first out of 24 in ironwoman physical strength; Taylor Kesler was fifth and Chante Powell sixth.

In precision air rifle, Mara Rouse was third out of 15, followed by Elena Flake (fourth) and Austin McBride (fifth).

Julia Flake was fourth out of 50 in sporter.

Natalie Schuldt placed sixth out of 90 in armed drill down.

“Overall, the drill meet went well,” Thiel said. “Competing against the best of the best in the Northwest Drill and Rifle Conference is a huge honor for all of our cadets. Not only are they great competitors, their sportsmanship during the awards ceremony was very supportive of all the units.”