EASLEY — The Easley High School Navy JROTC orienteering team started the year off with a major win in the first competition of the year, held Nov. 5 at Kings Mountain State Park.

Orienteering is known as the thinking sport and is a mixture of land navigation and cross-country running while reading a map, compass and the terrain. It also involves decision-making on what is the best route to take to get from point A to point B.

Easley’s Brandon Marsh and William Frazier took first and third on the 5.5-kilometer green course, while Kelsie Hart took second on the 4.5-kilometer brown course, Nikolas Medtcalfe took second on the 3.2-kilometer yellow course and Billy Brown finished first on the 2.3-kilometer white course.

The top 10 on each course contributed to the points gained for Easley to bring home a trophy for first place on the green and white courses, second place on the yellow course and the overall first-place trophy. Another trophy will have a “2016 Easley HS” engraved plate, and Easley will retain possession for the year. The trophy rotates every year to the winner of the Blue Ridge Orienteering Meet at Kings Mountain.

“They are off to a good start,” EHS instructor Chief Mark Stauder said. “They made me proud to be their coach — it takes commitment to venture through unfamiliar terrain that the sport of orienteering offers and come out winners.”

Easley’s cadets that competed were Marsh, Cody Marshall, Frazier and Brady Beckman on the green course, Hart on the brown course, Jay Scozzaro, Dylan Henderson, Jacob Cole and Jason Jeanes on the orange course, Ben Prins, Alexis Bader, Medtcalfe, Ryan Alexander and Thomas Swafford on the yellow course, and Heidi Jacome, Kylie Ortiz, Brown and Steven Chappell on the white course.