posted Aug 12th, 2009 - The August meet of the Midwest Skydiving League showcased the hard work and commitment that many teams have put in over the 2009 season.

SDC Rhythm XP's Center Outside, JaNette Lefkowitz, provided the meet report for the NSL News.

This Saturday's MWSL meet brought seven teams to Skydive Chicago. It was a typical August weekend, hot and humid, and everyone remarked how refreshing it was at altitude. As a special treat, Kirk Verner was on site to coach and judge the meet.

Three regular Rookie Class teams showed up, and all three have to be commended for overcoming obstacles and sticking with it to compete.

What's the Point regulars Bob Moore and Beth Schipke didn't let the fact that they were short two teammates and a cameraman for the meet stop them from competing. They picked up MWSL newcomers Tom Holan and Todd Levy and Anthony Ebel on video to continue their perfect meet attendance.

It took the group a few rounds to get going, but they were clearly learning in each round. In Round 3 the group was able to start posting some points. Unfortunately, winds kept What's the Point on the ground for the rest of the meet.

SDC Flying Fish (Jesse Townsend, Jeff Carpenter, Tony Dommer, James Lovaas and Chris Goller on video) also continued their perfect meet attendance. The team has been training consistenly at Skydive Chicago, and they were excited to see the results of their efforts last weekend. With a sickness on the team, they picked up alternate Troy Church for a few rounds on Saturday and showed some consistent skydiving despite the change. With the full team back on Sunday, the Fish put up two strong scores before heavy winds kept them from completing the full ten rounds as planned.

Jetstream Tango (Point: Katie Matyka, OC: Eric Bambach, IC: Ellen Steckbar, Tail: Megan Pulver, Videographer: Raj Rajaram) showed up and gave the Fish some serious competition. The work the team put in this season was immediately clear in their preparation and creeping, and the scores followed. Tango improved their average over the last meet again by over 1.5 points. In Round 2, they tied their team best with a 5-pointer and then came back to beat it with a 6-pointer in Round 3.

Jetstream Tango stuck around until Sunday afternoon to finish the meet, but unfortunately winds kept them on the ground. With their first place finish, Jetstream won the meet prize and took home a set of free jumps at Skydive Chicago for their efforts.

All three Rookie Class teams have plans to continue training – it will be exciting to see them compete again at the next MWSL meet in September.

Pickup team Butch, Please! competed in the A Class. The team included some familiar faces from last year: Scott Menzies in the Center Outside slot, Tracy Bohm at Center Inside, Butch Connelly in Tail, Chris Wojnarowski in Point, and Henrik Csuri on Video. All 4-way enthusiasts, Butch, Please! was clearly having a fun time competing and taking advantage of the great coaching.

In the AA Class, CSC Pareto Optimal (Andy Boyd, Alan Butt, Henrik Sternberg, Tom Bohm and Henrik Csuri on video), was back for their third meet of the season, with coach Andy Honigbaum on site to guide them. The team has been turning out the jumps at Chicagoland Skydiving Center and doing tunnel time at Paraclete XP, and it showed in some impressive scores, despite a slow 6-round draw. Pareto took home a set of PD shirts and calendars for their performance.

SDC Furies XP (Karyn Rees - Point, Anabel Durham - Ooutside Center, Rhonda Wilcox - Iinside Center, Shannon Sweet - Tail and Charles Lane on Video) competed in their first MWSL meet with the new 2009 lineup. Brian Johnson is coaching the team, which trains at Skydive Chicago and Paraclete XP. The Furies' progress was evident, as they posted a team best 13.7 average after after ten rounds. Keep an eye on the Furies at the next MWSL meet and Nationals!

SDC Rhythm XP also competed in the AAA Class.

After 10 rounds Rhythm posted a team best 19.2 average, which was also an MWSL meet record. In Round 7, Rhythm broke the MWSL record for a single round with a 30-pointer. The previous record was a 25-pointer set in 2008 by Rhythm.

The 2009 lineup then came back in Round 10 to break it again with 37 points.

Thank you to Rook, Erin, Karry, Dave, Herman, Kirk, Andy, Brian, the packers, and Skydive Chicago for again running a flawless meet. The fourth and final MWSL meet is scheduled for September 12th at Chicagoland Skydiving Center. Hope to see you all there!