Author: Laura Shapiro

Discipline. It’s something that Virginia Military Institute instills in its cadets. Luke Rose ’24 said it’s integral in being part of the triathlon club.  

Rose, the cadet in charge (CIC) of the club, said the members focus on training for triathlons — which encompasses cycling, swimming and running.  

The team, which is made up of eight people, practices twice a week, either focusing on swimming or biking. Rose, an international studies major, said running is mainly done individually, on each cadet’s own time.  

“Most people are proficient in two of the subjects and then work on the third,” Peyton Reingruber ’23, a civil and environmental engineering major. said. “So, more common than not, people are usually getting into cycling. It’s not a very common sport.” 

Rose said cycling is a demanding sport and credits their coach, Brian Frazier, in training them, especially with cycling. A lot of the athletes on the team are training up to 15 hours a week.  

“He’s done a great job with helping us progress in our cycling and that’s kind of where his expertise is,” Rose said. “Most people who show up here have ran before or used to run.” 

Part of the USA Triathlon Collegiate Club, the VMI Triathlon Club participates in several competitions throughout the year. They focus on two types of triathlons — sprint and Olympic. Sprint is a half mile swim, 12.4 mile bike, and 3.1 mile run. Olympic is a .93 mile swim, 24.8 mile bike, and 6.2 mile run.  

“Being a military school, it’s pretty difficult,” Rose said about competing. “The season is more of a spring and summer season and then into early fall. So, we miss the kind of big conference events, which are in early September. Our main events that we really train up for are in the spring.” 

The main goal: go to the national championship. Last year, the event was held in Georgia, and Rose said everyone finished and it got competitive. This spring, the championship will be held in California.  

‘It’s a sweat-fest’ 

They utilize VMI’s Aquatic Center for swimming practice, while they take to the streets around Lexington atop a bicycle. Most of the team have their own bike, but there are team bikes available for use. 

But what happens when the weather turns cold? That’s when they sweat it out in Cocke Hall on stationary bikes for about an hour and a half. 

“It’s a sweat fest,” Rose said. “It’s a room with no windows or anything. Just put on some music and work really hard.” 

Andrew Wright ’25, an economics and business major, joined the club last spring. He said he grew up watching his father do long distance events in running and cycling. When he found out VMI had a triathlon club, he was on board.

“I think my favorite part is just learning just learning how to do it better,” he said. “I’m pretty new to cycling. Coach Brian has been great and helped me figure out how to become more efficient and become a better cyclist. I grew up swimming a good bit but didn’t really have the technique or anything like that or had never done a lot of endurance or long swims. So I’m learning new things, and just becoming better at this fun sport.” 

Reingruber said his mother did triathlons while he was growing up, but he never participated in them until after Breakout. He was an avid swimmer in high school. 

“I’d say my favorite part is people’s dedication to go that extra mile and do more than what they already are doing,” he said. “Most of the team or at least half is planning on commissioning on top of academics and everything. So, to spend four hours a week just on practices, roughly, that’s a big time commitment. To see some people come out and have a good attitude and work hard is really uplifting, especially if someone’s having like a hard day.”

Rose said physical activity, especially in this club, acts as a cleanser. 

“Not only is it productive to your overall health, but I think it also benefits the mind greatly,” he said. “Instead of just going and playing some video games to blow off steam, you’re going to do something physical and work on yourself. It kind of gives you that mental reset, so by the time you’re done, you go shower, you’re ready to go again to go work on academics. I think that’s very beneficial to cadets, especially.” 

His favorite part — club members showing up and working hard. 

“Practices aren’t necessarily always a fun, jolly time,” he said. “We go out there and we work really hard, and I think it builds a lot of camaraderie and builds us as a team, you kind of get to know each other a little more when you’re really suffering through some of the tougher workouts. It’s pretty awesome to see the team come together and support each other.” 

With dreams of attending the U.S. Air Force Academy, Nathan “Skye” Van Ness ’25 had to shift gears when he wasn’t accepted. But it didn’t deter him. Rather, if he could go back in time, he wouldn’t have even applied. Instead, Virginia Military Institute has provided an overwhelmingly beneficial college and military experience for the cadet.  

Overall, he’s much happier in his decision.  

“VMI teaches a level of humility and appreciation for the enlisted side. And not only that, but also for the non-commissioning cadets as well,” the physics major said. “It affords all sorts of other unique and distinct opportunities to interact with other kids in different branches and really get a full picture of everything while building yourself in a way that I haven’t really seen anywhere else.”

Van Ness said by attending VMI, his skills in athletics, academics, and leadership have improved significantly, which in turn has prepared him to be an effective leader. By joining VMI’s Air Force ROTC Det 880 Arnold Air Society John P. Jumper Squadron, his leadership skills have increased tenfold.  

The Arnold Air Society (AAS) is a service organization through the Air Force ROTC (AFROTC) that centers on professionalism, honor, and community service. Squadrons are formed by AFROTC in collegiate settings focusing on cadets who are dedicated to their community and to becoming an Air Force officer. 

Van Ness is the commander for the squadron. The club was recently rebooted. It was reinstated in 2021 after a pause, but the club has ties at VMI stemming back to the 1970s.  

What drew Van Ness to the club was its values, but also there’s the possibility of national scholarships upwards to $10,000.  

“I saw that sort of excellence as something I want to be a part of and really live up to,” he said.  

He decided to join, which requires a list of things before being initiated, that includes: 

• Have at least a 2.5 GPA 
• Score at least an 80 on the United States Air Force Physical Fitness Assessment and meet physical standards 
• Be active in the cadet corps and have necessary leadership qualities 
• Receive an invitation from AAS and complete the post-training program 
• Pass the AAS national test 

The two big things that VMI’s chapter does is have the candidacy class come up with a service project. This year it was collecting funds for the Rockbridge SPCA. The other initiation task is getting signatures from all the current members, which is around 10. 

Normally, that wouldn’t sound hard, but to get the signatures, the candidate would need to do a task. Last year, Van Ness required a candidate to clean his shoes in order to get his signature.  

“I took one shoe, and I shined it because I’m good at shining shoes. I love doing it. I made one shoe as shiny as I possibly could get it. I was like, if you can get this other shoe just as shiny, I’ll give you my signature,” he said. 

The more Van Ness participated, the more leadership opportunities he craved. He began working towards squadron commander. 

“I would say that the Arnold Air Society has single-handedly improved my leadership and leadership philosophy as a whole,” he said. 

By attending the National Conclave, or NATCON, last year, Van Ness said he felt like he grew up an entire year within just a few days due to the impact of the conference.  

“It felt like I matured so much just from being able to be there,” he said.  

Last semester, Donald “Alex” Dieffenbach ’26, a computer science major, was the candidate training officer for the club. His role in the squadron was member onboarding, and initiation. Each potential new member participates in a candidacy before they are initiated.  

Candidacy is a several months long process which goes over the basic knowledge about AAS, history, structure, and administration.  

“A lot of it is like the tradition, the heritage, the values, just kind of teaching the candidates what kind of person best fits into this society,” Dieffenbach said.  

The club is also not strictly for VMI cadets, as they’ve had Washington & Lee and Mary Baldwin students also participate.  

“We intend on completing a lot more service projects, a lot more morale events, and really engaging with the region and as a squadron,” Van Ness said. 

“That’s the nice part about Lexington, it’s a small community,” Dieffenbach said. “We’re really blessed to be in this place because community outreach is significantly easier than say, like Richmond or Charlottesville. You can build those connections.” 

The long gravel road winds around to the back of McKethan Park. From the first turn, you may see a large flagpole with a red flag flying. It signals that there’s shooting in progress at the outdoor range. 

Lucas Wood ’24 grew up hunting and target shooting, but it wasn’t until he became friends with Virginia Military Institute’s Trap and Skeet Club cadet in charge that he shot a clay. 

“I grew up shooting but never like this,” he said. “I tried it out and I just really enjoyed it and figured it out.” 

He’s now the cadet in charge (CIC) for the club, which practices twice a week at McKethan Park in Lexington. He said the club is a good chance for cadets to step out of the confines of who they know in their class and create bonds with the rest of the Corps involved.  

“VMI is very separated by class. You’re friends with the people who are in your class. But the clubs give an opportunity for all the classes to come together and get to know each other,” he said. “When you’re spending five hours a week out on the range with somebody that’s a year younger than you or two years older than you, whatever it might be, it’s really good to know a large variety of people.” 

Most of those in the club either grew up shooting or have experience with a gun. Bryant Falk ’25 also grew up shooting.  

“You all kind of have a certain similarity,” Falk said. “Some people will go and hunt together with people in the club or we’ll go shoot together with people in the club.” 

But not everyone needs to be an experienced shooter to join the club. Wood said there are a number of members who have never shot before.  

“It’s really interesting to see them as they progress … start to figure out the basics of it,  and then really become some good shooters,” he said. 

It’s the comradery of the team that keeps them engaged in the club. During practice is the time when they can shine individually, though.  

“We get competitive because when we go out somewhere to compete, it’s as a team,” Wood said. “But then when we’re out there practicing is more individual, like what your individual scores are. So I like the competitiveness within the team. We kind of like egg each other on, so it’s always a good time just to be out there.” 

Practice is also a time to hone your skills and aim for perfection. The perfect score in skeet is 25, and Wood has shot that once while at practice.  

“A tradition within the skeet shooting community is that when you shoot your first 25, everybody that you’re shooting with shoots the hat that you’re wearing,” he said. “You take your hat and throw it over and everybody that you’re shooting with, shoots your hat in the air.” 

Wood, although ecstatic he shot that perfect score, was a little bummed to have one of his favorite hats ruined.  

“I got it at one of the competitions we did,” he said. “So you’ve got to be mindful of what hats you’re wearing.” 

The difficulty of the sport is what draws Wood in, he said.  

“We’ll shoot multiple rounds or multiple matches while we’re out there at practice. And in one round, you can shoot a 23 out of 25 and the next round you only hit 16 of the 25. It’s literally hit or miss,” he said. “It gets aggravating. That’s what keeps us coming back.” 

Falk said he enjoys the excitement of knowing twice a week he’ll be out there shooting.  

“You get excited to go out and shoot because you get away from this place for a little bit. And you’re not doing like military or anything like that,” he said. “It’s a fun thing to do. But it’s also difficult at the same time. It’s challenging, because you want to shoot as good as possible.” 

Falk said when he started, he could barely shoot an eight.  

“Over time, as we kept going, we kept shooting more and more and more. And we just keep going back because we want to shoot better and better and better.” 

How trap and skeet works 

It’s easier to see and experience than it is to explain, Wood warns.  

Trap and skeet are two different type of shooting sports. With skeet, you rotate through for a total of 25 targets from eight different stations. Skeet is shot in squads of up to five shooters, who move from station to station around the half-moon, ending up in the center, at the end of the round. 

“The target is farther away from you and it’s moving,” Wood said. “When the wind starts flying. it’ll push targets either super-fast or slow or the wind can push them way up.”

In trap shooting, you stand in stations on a crescent shape behind the trap house, which is in front of the posts. Each trap house is equipped with a mechanical trap that throws clay targets into the air.  

One of the main differences between these shooting sports is skeet is a rotation of shots that you have to get to each station, despite any timing of when the clays are thrown. In trap, the shooter yells, “pull,” for the clay to be released.  

In trap, each shooter takes turns until everyone has fired five rounds at their post, then they rotate to the next post to do the same. They do this rotation until each shooter has hit the five different stations, shooting five shots at each station.  

 The club is open to everyone but rats, who can join once they’re 4th Class cadets.