National runners-up
National runners-up
The St. Augustine Composite Squadron team (from left) – Cadet Staff Sgt. Jocelyn Caraway, Cadet Chief Master Sgt. Alex Bitzer, Cadet 2nd Lt. Kelsey Hall, Cadet Staff Sgt. Stephen Parth, Cadet 2nd Lt. Gavin Morton and Cadet Capt. Harrison Keating.
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03
May
2020
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19:17 PM
America/Chicago

Fla. CyberPatriot Cadets Place 2nd Nationally

Cadets from the Florida Wing’s St. Augustine Composite Squadron made their first Air Force Association CyberPatriot National Youth Cyber Defense Competition finals a memorable one, finishing second in the All Service Division and third in the Cisco NetAcad Challenge.

The team members – Cadet Capt. Harrison Keating, Cadet 2nd Lts. Kelsey Hall and Gavin Morton, Cadet Chief Master Sgt. Alex Bitzer and Cadet Staff Sgts. Jocelyn Caraway and Stephen Parth – will each receive $1,500 scholarships from Northrup-Grumman, the competition' presenting sponsor, for their second-place national performance and $1,000 from Cisco for the NetAcad performance.

Winners in the annual competition were announced Sunday evening. The CyberPatriot XII national finals were originally scheduled for March 20-22 in Rockville, Maryland, but were instead held remotely this weekend because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The second Civil Air Patrol team to reach the finals, the South Dakota Wing’s Big Sioux Composite Squadron, did so for the sixth time, having previously competed on the national stage from 2012-2015 and 2019. Previous Big Sioux cadet teams achieved a second-place overall finish in 2015, a Networking Finals victory in 2012 and a Forensics Competition win in 2013.

This year’s Big Sioux team consisted of:

  • Cadet Lt. Col. Annabelle Klosterman
     
  • Cadet Capts. Austen King and Isaiah Klosterman
     
  • Cadet Chief Master Sgt. Lydia Klosterman
     
  • Cadet Senior Airman Jeremiah Jorenby.

CAP competes in the All Service Division of CyberPatriot, which includes junior ROTC teams for each of the military services as well as the Naval Sea Cadet Corps. CAP accounted for 476 of the 1,885 All Service teams competing in CyberPatriot XII.

CAP teams have finished first nationally three times – in 2011, when a Florida Wing entry took the title, and in 2012 and 2017, when the crown went to the Colorado Springs Cadet Squadron. In addition, the California Wing’s Beach Cites Cadet Squadron 107 won the inaugural Middle School Division competition in 2014.

South Dakota cadets
South Dakota cadets
• The Big Sioux Composite Squadron cadets (front row, from left) – Cadet Chief Master Sgt. Lydia Klosterman, Cadet Lt. Col. Annabelle Klosterman, (second row, from left) Cadet Capt. Austen King, Cadet Capt. Isaiah Klosterman and Cadet Senior Airman Jeremiah Jorenby.