Spring Branch ISD Featured News

Three Northbrook High School sophomores were the top local unit Navy Jr. ROTC finishers during a two-day meet known as the annual Stubblefield Orienteering Meet, conducted in the Sam Houston National Forest near the Stubblefield Campground, north of Lake Conroe.

The three top finishers from the Navy Jr. ROTC student cadet program at SBISD’s Guthrie Center were Leon Sanchez, Nancy Luna and Daniela Ortiz. The Stubblefield Orienteering Meet’s hosting group was the Houston Orienteering Club. The two-day competition was held on the weekend of Feb. 23-24.

Orienteering is a competitive sport in which contestants know as orienteers use a highly detailed map and magnetic compass to find certain points, or landmarks, in a particular landscape.

A standard orienteering course consists of a start, or beginning, a series of control sites that are marked and numbered in the order to be visited, and a finish. On the ground, a control flag marks the location that the orienteer must visit. Verification of the meet visits is controlled by orienteers by using a paper punch hanging next to the flag to mark a control card. 

Different punches are used to vary the pattern of holes in punched paper, and confirm a proper set of visits.

One obstacle for the orienteer is to determine the route between flags, which is not specified and solely up to the orienteer’s choice and discretion. The element of route choice and ability to navigate a terrain like Sam Houston Forest are key elements of orienteering.

Due to the denseness of Sam Houston’s forest grounds, the Stubblefield Orienteering competition has a local reputation as one of the more rigorous orienteering events in southeast Texas.

The Navy Jr. ROTC program at the Guthrie Center is led by Retired Navy Cmdr. Jerry Coufal and Retired Navy Hospital Corpsman, 1st Class, Dominic Monita Jr.