posted Jun 21st, 2005 - At the May 23 meet the MWSL took part in the new NSL record of 81 teams participating in a single weekend. This past Saturday the MWSL set its own record when a total of 10 teams came to compete at Meet 2 at Chicagoland Skydiving Center. The MWSL's streak of good meet weather continued as Saturday was a virtually perfect day for jumping in the Midwest, a rarity in 2005. All eight teams from Meet One returned and were joined by two additional teams: the Has-Beens (Lem Castro, Tim McKee, Julian Dawson, Tom Bohm) made up of some of the most experienced 4-way competitors in the Midwest and Chasing Amy, a brand new Rookie Class team made up of first time competitors (Amy Gladfelter, Doug Lagally, Tim Bloomingdale, Stewart Wall, Leo Grinya on video).

The most highly anticipated matchup of the date was the rematch in the A Class where three teams (Furies, Sirens and Pimps) had finished within two points of each other at the first MWSL meet this year. However, the Furies kicked their game into another gear and guaranteed that the only contest was for second place. The all woman team from Skydive Chicago scored 13 points in the all random round one and never looked back, finishing with a scorching total of 63 points, a 10.5 meet average! All A Class teams had solid meets, but the closest anyone could come to the Furies was the Sirens with a total of 45 points. Nite Hooker and the Pimps were third, followed by One Fifty One and 4 Play.

The Furies weren't the only story in the A Class. 4 Play (Laurent Beaudouin, Neill Gresham, Dina Kafenshtok, Brian Stupec, Andy Metcalfe - video), a CSC team of newcomers to 4-way whose last meet had been the first time any of them had competed, had a meet as impressive as the Furies. 4 Play put together six solid rounds resulting in a total of 35 points, effectively averaging what had been the team's highest score in its previous meet. So great was their improvement that they nearly caught team One Fifty One, a team that had outscored them by 17 points in May.

In the AAA Class we had local competition at this meet, thanks to the aforementioned Has-Beens joining CSC Steel Breeze in this challenging class. Despite a solid total of 41 points from Breeze, including a score of 11 points in round two, the experience level of the Has-Beens showed early, and they won the AAA Class competition handily with a total of 56 points.

The AA Class featured a rematch between two MWSL regulars, Just4Fun and Good Vibrations. While the 2004 season featured some close matches between these two teams, roster shake-ups have hurt Vibes thus far this season. On Saturday, Just4Fun put together their best meet ever with a total of 47 points, including a 10-pointer in round two, to ensure a solid win.

While the Rookie Class was the MWSL's most popular class in 2004, we had no Rookie Class teams at the first MWSL 2005 meet. But that changed Saturday with the addition of Chasing Amy to the ranks of the MWSL. Chasing Amy scored a total of six points in the team's debut. Hopefully other newcomers will decide to give 4-way a try in future meets, so that Amy will have some friendly local competition.

In summary, we had a great meet featuring many teams having their best scores ever under perfect sunny skies. Thanks to Lisa Dexter for her usual great job in manifest despite having a record number of teams push the DZ's lift capacity to its limits. We look forward to seeing Chicagoland Skydiving Center again for the season finale in September. Also thanks to Matt Mikos, now officially a veteran meet coach and everyone else who contributed to helping make MWSL Meet 2 a success. Our next meet is on July 23 at Sky Knights Sport Parachute Club in East Troy, Wisconsin, and features world-class skydiver Eliana Rodriguez as meet coach. See you there for Meet 3!

Alan Butt, MWSL Director