posted Nov 29th, 2008 - NSL-TV has already followed up with all videos of the A Class competition at the NSL Championship 2008, and it is well worth to take a look at these videos, as well.

The drama was exactly the same one as in the Rookie Class. Colorado team Mile High Mayhem and Zero Tolerance from Skydive Miami in South Florida battled it out over the whole meet duration of ten rounds and ended up one single point away from each other.

The only difference is the fact that both teams collected about two dozens more points and that this exciting race was to be expected, at least to a certain extent.

In addition, a third team had joined the competition, Vertical Obsession from Skydive Long Island, and the team from New York was thrilled to be a part of this A Class race.

NSL Championship 2008 League Rd1 Rd2 Rd3 Rd4 Rd5 Rd6 Rd7 Rd8 Rd9 Rd10 Total Av. Rank A Class League G-B-K 4-L M-9 F-19 H-A-2 N-P-6 C-Q-O 8-7 21-E D-J-G Total Av. 1 Mile High Mayhem COSL 12 8 12 11 11 12 13(-1) 8(-1) 10 15 112 11.2 2 Zero Tolerance Miami FSL 13 7(-1) 16 11 13 11 10 8(-1) 10 12 111 11.1 3 Vertical Obession RSL 9 4 10 10 8 7 8 5(-1) 9 5 75 7.5 Click on the team names for more information, click on the scores to view the jumps on NSL-TV

It was a very exciting 2008 season for the two top contenders in the A Class. Mile High Mayhem attended four meets of the regular season in Colorado (8.0 - 9.8 - 10.8 - 13.0) with the same original lineup that won the NSL Championship 2007 in the Rookie Class: Craig Julien (Center Inside), Bob Meister (Point), Russ Moran (Center Outside) and Kim Smith (Tail). Scott Levesque was on camera, Rusty Lewis has been coaching the team.

The progression of the Colorado team was obviously steep once again. For most of the 2008 season, it did not look like the Miami team of the Florida Skydiving League would be serious competition for Mayhem. Zero Tolerance, with Trevor Cedar (Point), Alexandra Kolb (Tail), Pam Manos (Center Outside) and Guido Marti (Center Inside) in the lineup, was still at a 7.5 average level in June when Mayhem posted the team's first 2-digit average of the 2008 season (10.8) in the A Class.

However, the Miami team continued to work hard on the individual and the team skills and eventually caught up. Both teams competed at the NSL Playoffs competition in September, and Zero Tolerance ended up only one single point behind (78 - 77) Mayhem. The September meet was the 7th competition this year for Zero T, and it was now obvious that there would be a tight race at the NSL Championship 2008.

Nobody knew that it would be just as close in DeLand as it was at the September meet. The 1-point difference could have gone either direction, and Mile High Mayhem was thrilled when judging was completed and the gold medals and A Class trophy for the A Class would go to Colorado again. There was surely disappointment on the Miami side, as well, as the team was one point ahead going into Round 10. The NSL News will follow up with more details of this exciting race later.

Vertical Obsession has attended two meets of the regular season at the Ranch Skydiving League (5.3 - 9.5) including the NSL Playoffs event in September. Rob Jayne, Markus Lucas, Andrew Palermo, Jim Petrocelli and Lee Staebler made the long trip to Florida to complete the first 10-round competition of the team.

The New York team ended up right between the two previous meet averages with the 7.5 average in DeLand.

It was interesting to see that all three A Class teams finished significantly below their best previous averages. The explanation is quite simple and logical.

The 6-round meets of the regular season do not necessarily require the teams to go through all eight blocks in the same meet. The 10-round meet at the NSL Championship 2008 applied the complete dive pool, including the slower blocks. The teams' averages in DeLand (11.2 - 11.1 - 7.5) are all the more impressive results.