posted Aug 17th, 2004 - In stark contrast to the dangerously violent weather impacting Florida and the East Coast last weekend, the Midwest was blessed with near perfect skydiving weather. And while August meets in the Midwest typically involve enduring some of the most oppressive heat and humidity of the year, we had near record lows and a high only in the low 70’s. Six teams, all of whom were participating in at least their third MWSL meet of the season, took advantage of the spectacular weather at Skydive Chicago in Ottawa, IL. And, since we had two teams in each of three classes, all were able to experience face to face competition.

The Rookie Class, originally intended primarily to offer inexperienced teams the opportunity to get into the sport gradually, continued to see some of the closest competition in the MWSL. The Sirens (Barb Carqueville, Susan Evers, Karyn Rees, Shannon Sweet) and the Nite Hookers (Keith Nugent, Todd DeSimone, Shane Eggenberger, Mariusz Nierzwicki, Pete Jabczynski on video) had met head to head at each meet this season. In July at SkyKnights, the all woman Sirens had bested their male counterparts by four points over six rounds. The Sirens’ practice showed in their performance as they increased their total score from 31 points then to 50 today. But even such dramatic improvement would not be enough to capture first place today. The Nite Hookers used solid exits and very smooth skydiving to increase their total from 27 in July to an incredible 56 points on Saturday! I do not believe any MWSL team has ever improved their scores so much in a single meet. MWSL season standings are tied at seven points apiece between these two SDC teams, so the final meet will determine the season champion as well as the meet winner.

The AA Class also saw a big improvement in scoring. Good Vibrations, who had a rocky meet in July, bounced back to score 33 points for a strong 5.5 average. By the time they exited the plane in round two, they had already tied their score for the entire July meet! But the big turnaround was not big enough as Just4Fun had their most consistent meet of the season and scored a season high 39 points. Just4Fun also clinched first place in the AA Class in the MWSL for 2004. Congratulations to the experienced SkyKnights squad!

In the A Class, the meet was close for a while, but then SDC’s Furies’ consistency kicked in and allowed them to pull away from the new SkyKnights’ team, Always Broke. The Furies, who competed in the A Class for the first time this season, also clinched the MWSL season title by virtue of their win. Congratulations, ladies!

The thing that stood out about Meet 4 was the fact that EVERY team had their highest scores of the season. Everyone really seemed to enjoy the opportunity to compete against their friends and to demonstrate their improved teamwork. Another notable change in the league is that whereas SkyKnights had no teams in the MWSL in 2002 and SDC had only Booty Surf, SkyKnights has had four teams compete this year and SDC has three. It is gratifying to see interest in 4-way competition taking root at these great DZs.

Our thanks to meet coach Lem Castro, Asst. Director Drew Hickok, DZOs Missy and Rook Nelson, all the videoflyers, and the staff at Skydive Chicago for helping make this meet a success. The season finale is on September 11-12 at Chicagoland Skydiving Center in Hinckley. And, remember with this year’s new format, this meet will be part of the NSL Playoffs 2004. See you there!

Meet story provided by MWSL Director Alan Butt