As Sarah Mell was ending gymnastics training, the South Aiken High School student - now a junior - was looking for something new to keep fit.
After joining the Naval Junior ROTC unit, she found orienteering, which she said is really tough - "a lot harder than just running."
Mell literally ran her way into the sport. Recently, the team took third place in the Navy Nationals, and Mell took first in the "orange" division.
"Our team is so much like a family," she said. "We spend so much time together on our runs."
Richard Barnes, NJ's naval science instructor, has worked with the ROTC program at South Aiken for the past 21 years. He took over the orienteering team five years later and still relishes the opportunity.
"It's so special for me," Barnes said. "The kids really put a lot into the team. It's all about them."
So what exactly is orienteering? Generally, take a typical 5K run. Add some hills to climb and race and maps to figure out the terrain and head for the finish line. It's harder than it sounds, and Nathan Livingston, also a junior, discovered that quickly. Yet, he found a sports home.
"I liked it from the start (as a freshman)," he said, "but I wasn't built as a runner. So I dropped 40 pounds and I'm one of the best on the team."
At the NJROTC Area 6 tournament for North and South Carolina teams, South Aiken qualified for the national event for the first time. The others making the trip to the Los Angeles were Caleigh Clark, Steven Sheets, Abbie Przywara, Alex Coleman, CJ Campbell, Melissa Satterville, Kristen Livingston and Cullen Hightower. As a group, they took the national title in the intermediate division and third in the top division to earn third place overall.
That event was held at the Vasquez Rocks County Park in Agua Dulce, about 40 miles from Los Angeles. Scenes from more than 14 movies have been filmed at the park.
Barnes called the orienteering course "ugly," referring to for its physical demands. The park is nearly 3,000 feet above sea level with temperatures over 80 degrees.
"It was extremely hot with lots of hills," said Satterville "I was the only person who stepped on a rattlesnake ... although it was already dead."
At the start of school every summer, Barnes said cheerfully, he has to "sell" the program. Cadets are invited to run 10-12 laps on the school's track, "and if they hang with that, you know they're pretty interested."
The program requires a time commitment as well. Occasionally, the cadets will do a practice run in Hitchcock Woods. To get a formal orienteering experience, they travel to Mistletoe State Park near Thomson, Ga.
Such trips "are just great," Leonard said. "We have a good time and come back and talk about the course."
Rob Novit is the Aiken Standard's education reporter and has been with the paper since 2001.