Army 1st Lt. Griffin Hokanson of the 75th Ranger Regiment climbs a rope during the Best Ranger Competition at Fort Benning, Ga., on Friday, April 11, 2025. Hokanson and his partner, 1st Lt. Kevin Moore, won the grueling three-day challenge that tests Ranger skills, earning a victory for the Ranger Regiment for a fourth straight year. (Corey Dickstein/Stars and Stripes)

FORT BENNING, Ga. — When Cpl. Jerry Eversmeyer’s opponent wrestled him to the mat early in their bronze medal bout of the Lacerda All-Army Combatives tournament, he remained patient.

Just minutes into the round, the 22-year-old infantryman from the 101st Airborne Division saw his opening and took it, slamming his opponent in the light heavyweight match to the ground, jumping on top of him and delivering a series of devastating head blows until the referee called the match. Eversmeyer attributed his victory to training and the perseverance to stick it out when things got tough.

“Grit was the biggest thing for me,” Eversmeyer said shortly after the April 10 fight during the tournament, which is part of Fort Benning’s annual Infantry Week of Army-wide competitions. “I think if you’re passionate about something, you’ll have the grit to see it through, whatever obstacles come through and keep it going to the end.”

That competitive spirit and determination are what the Infantry Week competitions are meant to showcase, said Brig. Gen. Phillip Kiniery, the Fort Benning-based infantry commandant. Infantry Week events include the Lacerda Cup, which is named for a combatives tournament champion and Army Ranger, Staff Sgt. Pedro Lacerda, who died of a brain aneurysm in 2010. Other events include the International Sniper Competition, the International Best Mortar Competition and the Best Ranger Competition.

“These competitors are the best our Army has to offer across their units, across the international community in all of these competitions,” Kiniery said. “[In] the Best Ranger Competition, you’re going to see pure grit. [In] the sniper competition, you’re seeing grit, and you’re seeing lethality being delivered with precision. [In] the Best Mortar Competition — you’re seeing mass being deliver with precision. … Lacerda, it’s how you fight. It’s all about how you bring the fight to the enemy, and what we’re doing right now is showing the world how strong we are, right? These competitions ought to serve as a deterrent. [Adversaries] ought to see the American soldier and be scared.”

Soldiers train for months to compete to enter the Fort Benning competitions, the general said. Those who win have bragging rights for the next year, but all the competitors will come away with new skills and a better understanding of themselves, he said.

“This makes us better,” Kiniery said. “It makes every unit in the Army better.”

This year, the Army’s 75th Ranger Regiment dominated the Infantry Week competitions, as its elite soldiers captured first place in the Lacerda Cup’s team event, the Best Mortar Competition and the Best Ranger Competition. The International Sniper Competition was won by the Army’s 3rd Special Forces Group, with a team from the 75th Ranger Regiment taking second place.

Army Cpl. Jerry Eversmeyer throws a punch in a third-place fight during the service’s Lacerda Cup All-Army Combatives tournament at Fort Benning on Thursday April 10, 2025. Eversmeyer, of the 101st Airborne Division, won the light heavyweight bout. (Corey Dickstein/Stars and Stripes)

Competitors in the Army’s Lacerda Cup All-Army Combatives tournament fight at Fort Benning on Thursday April 10, 2025 during the Infantry Week competition. The annual combatives tournament tests soldiers on their hand-to-hand fighting skills. (Corey Dickstein/Stars and Stripes)

Competitors in the Army’s Lacerda Cup All-Army Combatives tournament fight at Fort Benning on Thursday April 10, 2025 during the Infantry Week competition. The annual combatives tournament tests soldiers on their hand-to-hand fighting skills. (Corey Dickstein/Stars and Stripes)

Lacerda Cup

The mixed martial arts-style, hand-to-hand fighting competition tests soldiers’ discipline and response to adversity, Kiniery said.

The competition is based on the Army’s combatives program, which teaches hand-to-hand fighting skills across the service. The general said such skills remain critical for soldiers even as warfare has become dominated in recent years by technology such as drones and robotics.

“There’s a lot folks out there who have never been punched in the face, right?” Kiniery said. “Our soldiers, the first time they get punched in the face, doesn’t need to be in combat.”

The competition pitted 22 teams of soldiers against each other for individual titles across eight weight classes and the overall team Lacerda Cup title, which the Rangers took home. The 82nd Airborne Division, and the 11th Infantry Division took home second and third place. Eversmeyer and the 101st Airborne Division came in fourth.

A sniper from Sweden shoots Thursday, April 10, 2025, during the final event of the annual International Sniper Competition at Fort Benning, Ga. (Corey Dickstein/Stars and Stripes)

A sniper from the Army’s 11th Infantry Division shoots Thursday, April 10, 2025 during the final event of the annual International Sniper Competition at Fort Benning, Ga. (Corey Dickstein/Stars and Stripes)

A sniper competitor lines up a shot on Thursday, April 10, 2025 during the final event of the annual International Sniper Competition at Fort Benning, Ga. (Corey Dickstein/Stars and Stripes)

International Sniper Competition

The annual International Sniper Competition pits the best sniper teams from across the Army, Marine Corps, Coast Guard and several allied nations in a four-day test of their marksmanship skills.

Sniper teams must prove their skills with a variety of weapons including pistols, carbines and multiple sniper rifles throughout the competition, said 1st Sgt. Jared Adams, an Army Sniper Course leader who helped plan the competition.

Adams, who has been a sniper for about 10 years, said he and other cadre used their experiences in combat to tailor this year’s competition toward testing teams on a wide range of capabilities, including shooting from vehicles and in the dark.

The contest’s final event forced teams to shoot moving robots downrange some 300 to 800 meters away, he said.

“With these newer robots, we’re able to see them move in real time to be able to go forward, backward, left, right, run at 1 mile an hour, change it up to 6 miles an hour, all on the fly, so that you know that sniper has to adjust,” Adams said. “They have to think critically about things, and then … they have to be able to engage that target, so that that provides a lot of different things that we can do that will help develop and just improve our lethality at the end of the day.”

Competitors in the Army’s International Best Mortar Competition fire a mortar round during the final event of the four-day test of mortar teams’ skills at Fort Benning, Ga., on April 20, 2025. (Corey Dickstein/Stars and Stripes)

Competitors in the Army’s International Best Mortar Competition fire a mortar round during the final event of the four-day test of mortar teams’ skills at Fort Benning, Ga., on April 10, 2025. (Corey Dickstein/Stars and Stripes)

Competitors in the Army’s International Best Mortar Competition fire a mortar round during the final event of the four-day test of mortar teams’ skills at Fort Benning, Ga., on April 10, 2025. (Corey Dickstein/Stars and Stripes)

Best Mortar Competition

The Best Mortar Competition challenges four-man mortar teams to prove their skills as infantrymen and with their mortar tubes, said Capt. Joseph Brantley, who commands Fort Benning’s mortar training company.

The four-day competition includes physical and technical events including testing competitors’ skills with pistols and carbines, land navigation and rucking that aim to push the teams “to the limit both mentally and physically,” Brantley said.

“They need to be masters at the basics, which is, you know, those core infantry skills, but then they also need to be masters at their [mortarman] profession, right?” he said. “So, we’re testing them on both of those things, because you can’t just be good at one. You have to be good at both.”

The Best Mortar Competition’s final event on Thursday saw teams having to quickly identify and eliminate an unknown target downrange, Brantley said. The teams must put 10 rounds on target quickly.

“They’ve got to make those rounds count,” he said. “So, we’re really prioritizing accuracy here for them, and then also speed, because they only have a few minutes at this point … before they get counter fired and receive fire back.”

The 75th Ranger Regiment’s team took home the top prize in the Best Mortar Competition for the third straight year.

Army 1st Lt. Griffin Hokanson, left, and 1st Lt. Kevin Moore, of the 75th Ranger Regiment, compete in the Best Ranger Competition at Fort Benning, Ga., on Friday, April 11, 2025. The pair won the grueling three-day challenge that tests Ranger skills, earning a victory for the Ranger Regiment for a fourth straight year. (Corey Dickstein/Stars and Stripes)

First Lts. Ronan Doherty and Erik Nygaard, of the 10th Mountain Division, carry a sandbag at the end of the opening 7-mile run event on the first day of the Best Ranger Competition at Fort Benning, Ga., on Friday, April 11, 2025. The three-day competition test soldiers’ skills with little sleep and food to determine who are the top warrior-athletes among Ranger School graduates. (Corey Dickstein/Stars and Stripes)

Army 1st Lt. Dominic Dinunzio, of the 3rd Cavalry Regiment, fires a pistol on the first day of the Best Ranger Competition at Fort Benning, Ga., on Friday, April 11, 2025. The three-day competition test soldiers’ skills with little sleep and food to determine who are the top warrior-athletes among Ranger School graduates. (Corey Dickstein/Stars and Stripes)

Army Sgt. Tyle Steadman, of the 75th Ranger Regiment, throws off a life preserver after a swim through Victory Pond on the first day of the Best Ranger Competition at Fort Benning, Ga., on Friday, April 11, 2025. The three-day competition test soldiers’ skills with little sleep and food to determine who are the top warrior-athletes among Ranger School graduates. (Corey Dickstein/Stars and Stripes)

A Best Ranger Competition competitor fires an XM7 carbine on the first day of the Best Ranger Competition at Fort Benning, Ga., on Friday, April 11, 2025. The three-day competition test soldiers’ skills with little sleep and food to determine who are the top warrior-athletes among Ranger School graduates. (Corey Dickstein/Stars and Stripes)

Capt. Nicholas Basel, of the 3rd Cavalry Regiment, prepares to fire an XM7 rifle on the first day of the Best Ranger Competition at Fort Benning, Ga., on Friday, April 11, 2025. The three-day competition test soldiers’ skills with little sleep and food to determine who are the top warrior-athletes among Ranger School graduates. (Corey Dickstein/Stars and Stripes)

Best Ranger Competition

The 75th Ranger Regiment’s 1st Lts. Griffin Hokanson and Kevin Moore took the top prize in the 41st Lt. Gen. David E. Grance Best Ranger Competition on Sunday, earning a victory for the special operations unit for the fourth straight year.

The Best Ranger Competition is the Army’s most grueling of its annual contests, according to service officials. The two-man teams of Ranger School graduates spend three straight days with little food and little sleep navigating obstacles, firing weapons, running, ruck marching, climbing, crawling, swimming and paddling kayaks across some 70 miles on and around Fort Benning, said Col. Stewart Lindsay, who commands the installation’s Airborne and Ranger Training Brigade.

Lindsay said the competitors would face “exhaustion, pain and doubt,” as they navigated the event. During the three-day competition, the number of teams was cut from 52 to 16. Those who made it to the competition had already proven themselves the top “warrior-athletes” in their home units, Lindsay said.

“You are here because you refuse to settle for average,” the colonel told the competitors as they prepared to begin the competition before dawn Friday. “You are here because you embrace the hardship. You are here because you are a Ranger, and you uphold the prestige, honor and high esprit de corps of the Ranger.

“This competition will test every fiber of your being, but it will also reveal the greatness within you.”

Hokanson and Moore led the competition nearly wire to wire, taking a lead early on Day 1 and refusing to relinquish it. The 75th Ranger Regiment’s other two teams finished third and fourth respectively, while a cadre from Fort Benning’s Maneuver Center of Excellence earned second place.

1st Lt. Gabrielle White competes on the obstacle course at the 2025 Best Ranger Competition at Fort Benning, Ga., on April 11, 2025. (Stephanie Snyder/U.S. Army)

Capt. Seth Deltenre, left, and 1st Lt. Gabrielle White compete in the 2025 Best Ranger Competition during the Helocast, April 13, 2025 at Victory Pond, on Fort Benning, Ga. (Patrick Albright/U.S. Army)

The first woman to compete in Ranger Competition

A female Army Ranger competed for the first time in the annual Best Ranger Competition, and her two-soldier team finished 14th overall.

First Lt. Gabrielle White and her teammate, Capt. Seth Deltenre, were among the 16 teams that made it through the final events.

Female soldiers were not allowed to be Army Rangers until 2015, when the Army opened Ranger school to women, the Associated Press reported. In August 2015, two female soldiers completed the Ranger course for the first time. Later that year, the Defense Department opened all combat jobs to women.

Until this year, no female soldiers had entered the Best Ranger Competition at Fort Benning. Soldiers participating must all be Army Rangers, and they compete in more than 30 events.

White, 25, is an infantry officer assigned to the maneuver captains career course. She graduated from the Military Academy at West Point in May 2021 and completed the Ranger School in April 2022, Christopher Surridge, an Army spokesman, told the AP.

According to the Army, 154 females had graduated from the Ranger School as of January 2025.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.