But not one has done what Joshua Bassette did.
Bassette, a member of this year's graduating class, finished the IOCT in 2 minutes, 1 second — one tick quicker than the old record, set in 2000. The mark fell Jan. 29; the school announced it Thursday via an article in the Pointer View newspaper.
Male cadets must finish in 2:26 or better to earn a perfect score on the course, which has been given at West Point since the end of World War II and has held its current form, with some minor changes, since the early 1980s. Male cadets must finish in 3:30 or less to graduate; female cadets must complete the course in 5:29 or less.
Obstacles include running through tires and up balance beams, a rope climb from the gym's bottom floor to a second-floor track, and laps around that track — one performed while carrying a medicine ball.
All cadets must complete these tasks in the rarefied air of Hayes Gymnasium, which can lead to post-IOCT coughing fits some students diagnose as "Hayes Lung."
It happens, literally, to the best of them: Bassette said it takes him days to recover from IOCT runs that lead to headaches and hacking coughs, and called the whole process "not comfortable."
The senior will branch infantry and head to Fort Benning, Georgia, after graduation for basic officer leadership training and Ranger School, per the newspaper. He's then off to Fort Wainwright, Alaska ... but all that could come after another shot at West Point immortality.
The cadet record is two seconds slower than the all-time mark of 1:59, set by former West Point physical education instructor Capt. Austin Wilson:
Former cadet Madaline Kenyon holds the women's mark at 2:26, a time she clocked in 2013.
