posted Jul 13th, 2010 - Last weekend's leaderboard is complete, as the scores from the Northern Plains have now been added. 49 teams competed, and the situation has not changed much. The teams from the United Kingdom are still on the top in all competition classes.

However, one team from the Northern Plains squeezed its name into the Top 3 positions on the front page and denied the complete UK sweep. HTH took the second place in the AA Class by one point over the UK team Sirius.

Six of the 49 teams attended the second meet of the Midwest Skydiving League. MWSL Director Alan Butt provided the meet story and the photos.

July 10th, 2010		Round1	Round2	Round3	Round4	Round5	Round6	Total	Avg
Rank	AAClass	Q,O,H,15	J,11,B	22,20	M,8,K	18,E,D	7,6	Total	Avg
1	Suboptimal	9	11	4	10	7	7	48	8.0
2	Pieces of 8	3	2	1	3	2	2	13	2.2
Rank	AClass	Q,O,H	J,B,K	2,9	M,8	E,D,F	7,6	Total	Avg
1	Kiwiberry	10	9	3	5	12	5	44	7.3
2	Jetstream Tango	9	8	4	5	8	3	37	6.2
3	SDC Flying Fish	6	7	4	5	7	4	33	5.5
Rank	Rookie	Q,O,H	J,B,K	G,L,C	M,A,N	E,D,F	P,Q,J	Total	Avg
1	ArchRivals	1	3	3	5	2	8	22	3.7

Despite a trend so far this summer of hot, stormy weather in the Chicago area, we had near perfect conditions for our meet last Saturday at Chicagoland Skydiving Center. Six teams turned out for Meet 2, four veterans of our first meet plus two pick-up teams from CSC.

It was probably the smoothest running meet in the history of the MWSL, pretty much running with clockwork precision allowing all teams to complete all six rounds by around 4:00 pm. Fortuitously, this was enough just in time to beat a front which pushed some clouds and rain into the area.

Half of the six teams competed in the A Class, which featured good scores and competition. At the first meet, Jetstream Tango finished after three rounds due to rising winds, but was declared the winner over the SDC Flying Fish due to a higher total (16 - 13) for the rounds both teams completed.

The two teams were fairly evenly matched again, but again Tango finished ahead of the Fish (37 - 33) thanks largely to a strong first round. However, both teams ended up behind Kiwiberry, a team including two representatives from SkyVenture Colorado (Derek Vanboeschoten and Kiwi Hamilton on camera), two former members of the Sirens (Barb Carqueville and Susan Crowe) and Chuck Schultz, a local jumper with only 70+ jumps. Kiwiberry finished with a 7.3 average, an impressive accomplishment for a pick-up team with an individual making his 4-way debut.

However, the Fish did not go home empty handed. Kirk Verner and Paraclete XP have generously sponsored the Paraclete XP Challenge to reward the MWSL team which improves the scores the most over the previous performance. By the razor thin margin of a single point, the Fish nosed out their A Class peers from Tango and took home a prize of 10 minutes of coached tunnel time at Paraclete.

The AA Class had two teams competing at the meet. Pieces of 8 returned for their second meet of the season and competed with a CSC pickup team named Suboptimal. Suboptimal featured two members of last year's AA Class team Pareto Optimal. They may have been Suboptimal in name but were not in deed, as they scored a solid 8-point average for the meet, handily capturing the top spot in the AA Class.

In fact, Suboptimal's performance was tops among all the teams at the meet, and they were rewarded with a prize of 15 minutes of tunnel time courtesy of SkyVenture Colorado.

The Archway Arch Rivals overcame the absence of the team's Tail and videographer to ensure that the Rookie Class was also represented at our meet. Former Victory Hop member Butch Connelly volunteered to fill the missing slot for the day. The Arch Rivals overcame a slow start to post an 8-pointer in the final round, bringing them up to a total of 22 points for the day. This performance earned them a set of four free jumps at CSC.

Meet coach JaNette Lekowitz, SDC Rhythm XP's Center Outside, added:

"I think the meet ran great, and all of the teams did such a great job.

It's especially great to see all of the excitement for 4-way in the Midwest, from the pickup teams of seasoned competitors, my 8-way group, and also young teams like Jetstream, the Fish, and Archway putting work into training and teamwork, and improving a ton and having a good time.

I am also excited about the judging we've had at the past two meets, with rated judges Al Heitz and Helen Morris. I think its invaluable experience for the teams and competitors that will compete at the USPA Nationals this year."

As already mentioned, the meet ran extremely smoothly enabling all of the teams to finish in record time.

Thanks to Lisa Dexter and the staff at Chicagoland Skydiving for making it all possible.

Also thanks to Derek and Kiwi from SkyVenture Colorado, both for participating in our meet during their visit to CSC as well as donating the prize for the top scoring team.

I am looking forward to seeing everyone back here at CSC for our next meet on August 14th.