posted Jul 20th, 2004 - The Cross Keys MASL hosted the 3rd annual Karp Cup meet Saturday in honor of former Jetstream member Seth Karp, who was in a fatal landing accident in 2002. Seven teams showed up for the meet, coming from as far away as Ohio, making this the largest Formation Skydiving meet yet held at Cross Keys.

Seth Karp’s father, Martin Karp, donated $1,000 for cash prizes to honor his son’s memory. DZO John Eddowes matched that mount bringing the purse to $2,000 to be divided among the winning teams in the various classes. Meet director Mike Minicozzi had also done a great deal of legwork securing sponsors such as Performance Designs, Icarus, and Freefall Adventures.

Before starting the meet Elisa Behnk talked about Seth Karp, with whom she had been very close friends, and later Seth’s father Martin Karp talked to all the competitors, encouraging them to compete in the sport his son loved so much. Mr. Karp wishes to see this event grow each year. When he finished there were few dry eyes in the crowd.

In the AAA Class there were two competing teams: Cross Keys Vision and Down To Earth. Cross Keys O2 Project was unable to participate due to the injury of a teammate the prior weekend.

The AA Class brought in four teams: Air Pollution, Controlled Descent, Kaizen and the first-time competitors Fusion. There was also a pickup team in the A Class: Shuttle Debris with first-time competitors Pete Kepes and Jim Voorhees.

The skies were clear and the loads turned on schedule. Kaizen quickly took the lead in the AA Class with ten points in the first round, while teams Air Pollution and Controlled Descent found themselves tied with six points in the same round and then with eights each in round two. Air Pollution got a foot up on Controlled Descent in round three with 12 points and held on for a neck-to-neck fight for the rest of the meet. Kaizen finished with a 12.7 meet average, Air Pollution posted an 8.0 meet average, and Controlled Descent a 7.0 average.

The AAA Class competition was a horse race between CK Vision and Down to Earth for the first three rounds, as Vision trailed by one point in each round. However, Down to Earth won a good safety margin in round four and increased it again in round five, finishing with a 12.7 meet average over Vision’s 10.3 meet average.

The award ceremony was spectacular with medals awarded, cash prizes, and gifts from the sponsors, and finally a shared drink by all competitors from the Karp Cup. Special thanks go to Neal Beverly and Dave Milliron for judging this event, and to MASL director Cherie Schuch, who is truly the heart and soul of the MASL and who makes the meets work so well.

Meet story provided by Karl Schuch