posted Jul 6th, 2014 - The Sun Path Products NSL News story on 4 July 2014 mentioned that the Tomscat Trophy in the Netherlands is usually the bigger event than the national championships, which took place this weekend.

This special situation was confirmed once again this year, as 18 teams in four categories had attended the Tomscat Trophy, while eight teams competed in two categories this weekend.

Once again, the AAA Class winner was not the Dutch national team of 2014, Cool Runnings, even though the team improved the meet average significantly (11.1 - 12.5) since June 14th. Creeps was the best Dutch team at the Tomscat Trophy, and M4trix won the 4-way competition this weekend. Only Cool Runnings attended both events. Half Ginger competed for the first time in the AAA Class.

Dutch Nationals 2014		Rd. 1	Rd. 2	Rd. 3	Rd. 4	Rd. 5	Rd. 6	Rd. 7	Rd. 8	Rd. 9	Rd. 10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	J,9,L,N	13,5,8	P,10,O,F	D,19,1	12,B,6	7,18,22	C,M,21,17	14,Q,G,E	11,2,K	20,4,H	Total	Avg
1	M4Trix	23	13	21	14	14	13	16	1	14	12	141	14.1
2	Cool Runnings	17	10	16	12	11	10	13	14	11	11	125	12.5
3	Half Ginger	15	8	13	9	9	8	11	11	11	11	106	10.6
Rank	A Class	J,9	8,L	P,O,F	D,19	B,6	7,N	C,M,21	Q,G,A	2,E	4,K	Total	Avg
1	4igami	12	4	17	8	8	8	6	10	10	7	90	9.0
2	Maverick	5	2	12	5	6	6	6	9	6	5	62	6.2
3	Inside-Out	4	4	11	5	8	6	8	4	2	6	58	5.8
4	Winging It	4	5	6	5	7	5	7	6	5	2	52	5.2
5	Shinobi	4	4	9	4	6	7	4	0	0	0	38	3.8

The winner, M4trix, is one half of the Dutch national 8-way team, M8trix. The 8-way lineup consists of several experienced 4-way competitors who focus mainly on the 8-way competition at the upcoming World Championship of Formation Skydiving in the Czech Republic. M8trix plans to improve the 12.6 average in 8-way that still stands as the record number for the Netherlands, posted by Dutch Flight in 2001.

However, it does not take much 4-way training for the 8-way competitors to get back to the same or a higher scoring level compared to their former 4-way teams. M4trix's 14.1 average even includes a 1-pointer in Round 8, where the exit formation (Bipole) funneled, and the judges could not acknowledge more than one single scoring point at the end.

M8trix will also compete in 8way at the national championships, and the Sun Path Products NSL News will follow up with scores and more information.

Tomscat Trophy 2014		Rd. 1	Rd. 2	Rd. 3	Rd. 4	Rd. 5	Rd. 6	Rd. 7	Rd. 8	Rd. 9	Rd. 10	Total	Avg
Rank	A Class	B,M,A	7,H	P,C,E	F,N,6	D,9	21,J	19,8	K,Q,L	O,G,2	4,H	Total	Avg
1	Sonic (NL)	17	12	9	11	10	8	5	10	8	9	99	9.9
1	Dimension (NL)	19	9	13	7	9	8	7	12	7	8	99	9.9
3	4igami (NL)	14	8	9	10	8	8	7	8	10	5	87	8.7
4	Bad Habits (NL)	14	10	6	8	9	6	8	4	9	8	82	8.2
5	Maverick (NL)	11	8	9	7	3	5	4	6	5	6	64	6.4
6	Inside-Out (NL)	15	10	10	5	4	5	3	1	4	1	58	5.8
7	Shinobi (NL)	11	5	5	4	6	1	3	8	7	7	57	5.7
8	Winging It (NL)	9	2	6	6	3	4	5	6	6	3	50	5.0

The A Class competition was better attended than the AAA Class, and all five teams had also posted scores at the Tomscat Trophy 2014 in June. The ranking order was almost exactly the same. Only Winging It and Shinobi switched their positions at the bottom of the leaderboard.

The two teams on the top of the A Class leaderboard at the Tomscat Trophy, Sonic and Dimension, did not compete this weekend, and 3rd place winner in June, 4igami, finished with gold medals at the national championships with an improved meet average.

All A Class teams finished with averages that were very similar to the earlier ones at the Tomscat Trophy, except last year's Rookie Class team Shinobi. However, only the last three rounds with zeros took Shinobi out of the race for the silver medals and allowed Winging It the slot switcher in the rankings. Shinobi had to make the last three rounds with two substitutes and lost official eligibility for the competition...