High school teams compete in 27th annual Teen Driving Roadeo
DOVER (WJER) (April 25, 2024) – The Tuscarawas County Health Department and partner agencies are making area high schoolers better behind the wheel through a series of maneuverability and written tests.
Teams from seven schools participated in the 27th annual Teen Driving Roadeo at the Tuscarawas County Fairgrounds Wednesday with state troopers overseeing the challenges.
New Philadelphia junior Macie McMillen, who successfully defended her first place award in the written test from a year ago, was also happy with how she did in the backing-in and lane change drills.
“I was the last to go so I got to see everyone’s job well-done, and I got some tips from the officer in charge, so I got some help,” said McMillen. “I had a pretty smooth run.”
Her teammate, senior Connor Rippeth, also felt confident in his results in those contests.
“It was a fun experience – just make sure you don’t hit the cones and make sure you turn your blinkers on,” said Rippeth.
He rated his execution as an ‘A.’
“Preparation prevents poor performance, that’s all I can say right there.”
New Philadelphia junior Derek Shimek liked being there.
“It’s good to know what you can maybe improve upon in your actual daily driving because this is a controlled environment where there’s no other cars around you. So, nobody else is going to be getting hurt, no real damage is going to be done to yourself or the car,” said Shimek. “It’s a pretty amazing opportunity.”
Tusky Valley senior Emma Rennicker said she tried to prepare herself ahead of time.
“We did about an hour on Sunday, and we practiced it,” Rennicker said. “It seemed easy, but it looks like the cones are a little tighter here than the way we had them set up.”
Tusky Valley Senior Leah Wright saw much different times after completing the star and lane-changing drills.
“The star drill – honestly – kind of hard,” Wright chuckled. “Might have hit a cone or two. But we fixed it, we made it, we finished,” she said. “And then the lane-changing, actually, I would say it’s the easiest one so far.”
Garaway junior Blaine Lintern found it worthwhile.
“I think personally it will improve driving, especially in parking lots,” said Lintern. “In our parking lot, we’ve had a lot of people hit each other, so I think this will be very helpful.”
The competition awards cash prizes to the top five individual finishers in each category, including $300 to the winners.
The team from Dover won the overall event for the second year in a row, with just 10 points separating them from the second-place team, New Philadelphia. Garaway came in third.
Dover’s Lauren Grafe, Gracie Keith, Jonah Marks, Cade McGarry, Keane McIntosh, and Kiley McIntosh won the team competition at Wednesday’s 27th annual Teen Driving Roadeo