posted May 20th, 2017 - May has been a busy month for iFLY Sacramento's Indoor Cloud League team of the Northern California Skydiving League.

iFLY Sacramento was the first wind tunnel on the May leaderboard this month, with only AA and AAA Class scores to begin with. NCSL Director Lori Connor then followed up first with 3-way tunnel scrambles last week, where teams flew "pointless" formations, which were taken from the 4-way dive pool and eliminated the point slot. Lori Connor said that the participants had "super fun".

Thursday night was the time for the first official monthly NCSL Tunnel Kicker where six teams competed for a spot on the ICL leaderboard in the remaining four categories (A - RRR - RR - R). Lori Connor commented the internal competition:

"Two teams last night flew both the R/RR sequences throughout the evening and were neck to neck with their scores until the last round. Nick Maxwell, Keith Clayton and player coaches Matt Stephens and Nick Armstrong flew double rotations as Teams 2 and 6 and eventually posted a 39-pointer for the R Class sequence, raising their score by 15 points from their first flying session. The same lineup also scored 25 points for the RR Class sequence."

iFLY Sacramento - May 12+	AAA	AA	A	RRR	RR	R	Total
Teams	K,21,N,5	J,21,9	K,N,6	P,E,L	M,K,N	M,J	Total
Matt Stephens, Lori Connor, Volker Haag, Will Harris	16(-1)	19(-2)	-	-	-	-	35
May 5th	16(-1)	19(-2)	-	-	-	-	35
Russ Hebert, John Verley, Ron Ashcraft, Lori Connor	-	-	11	-	-	-	11
Kristen Breaux, Justin Breaux, Calli Waltrip, Lori Connor	-	-	-	16	-	-	16
Sona Santos-Linsenbach, Valerie Armstrong, Scott Rainey, John Verley	-	-	-	11	13	-	-
Nick Maxwell, Keith Clayton, Matt Stephens, Nick Armstrong	-	-	-	-	25	39(-1)	64
Reed Lawson, Matthew Lawson, Matt Stephens, Nick Armstrong	-	-	-	-	24	31	-
May 18th	-	-	11	16	25	39(-1)	91
iFLY Sacramento's Best of May	16(-1)	19(-2)	11	16	25	39(-1)	126

Lori Connor also introduced one of her new ICL competitors who helped to collect a total of 64 points for iFLY Sacramento, Nick Maxwell:

"Nick Maxwell joined the Sacramento NCSL team last week at its 3-way scrambles and drives up to Sacramento from Fresno, California, which is a 3-hour drive. Nick also joined the iFLY SF Bay team for its last two kickers. He started jumping in August 2016 at the Madera Parachute Center and has 88 jumps and 5.5 hours of tunnel time, and it definitely shows.

"Nick's skydiving progression was unfortunately stunted last year due to a few surgeries, and flying in the tunnel allowed him to keep his learning curve moving forward. He became interested in 4-way while jumping alongside Madera's current 4-way team (Brandy Robertson, Amy Anderson, Aldo Garza, Mo Martines), who have been flying together almost every weekend for the last five years.

"The NCSL has enjoyed Brandy's participation at a few of our events, and hopefully this season we can see more flyers from Madera at both the NCSL's outdoor and indoor events."

Nick Maxwell's team mate at this week's Rookie Class lineup was Keith Clayton, and Lori Connor knows his 4-way career, as well:

"He became licensed in 2008 but took a break due to grad school and career and now has 260 jumps and about two hours of tunnel time. Keith has been attending the NCSL Sacramento tunnel events regularly in 2017, and we hope to see his continued participation this year both indoors and outdoors. Keep up the good work and congratulations on your highscores."

There was another Rookie Class lineup with impressive scores, even though it was not enough to make it to the official ICL leaderboard. Reed and Matt Lawson, father and son, had player coaches Matt Stephens and Nick Armstrong in their lineup and scored 24 and 31 for the same two Rookie Class sequences (RR - R).

Reed Lawson started jumping last year and has 85 jumps. He has regularly been attending the NCSL events. His father Matt Lawson has been jumping since 2013 and has 204 jumps. Lori Connor said that Matt Lawson has been at a few of the NCSL indoor events before: "We definitely hope to see more of him. Congrats on the great scores."

There was another internal NCSL competition with two teams competing for the highscores in the RRR Class. Kristen Breaux, Justin Breaux, Calli Waltrip and Lori Connor herself were able to lift their score from 10 to 16 during the event. Kristen and Justin recently moved up to the RRR Class after scoring 25+ twice in the RR Class. Kristen Breaux had just celebrated her 100th jump last weekend.

Valerie Armstrong, Scott Rainey, Sona Santos-Linsenbach and John Verley posted 13 in RR and 11 in RRR and did not make it to the leaderboard despite the consistent progress throughout the ICL night at iFLY Sacramento.

Ron Ashcraft, John Verley, Russ Hebert and Lori Connor took on the A Class sequence with Block 6. There was no internal competition, but the same team will probably return for next week's NCSL Tunnel Kicker where the competition and the race for the ICL leaderboard will continue in the same four categories.

Lori Connor will also once again use the same May sequences for her new Outdoor Cloud League events this month: "Why not put into the sky what you just flew at the tunnel and see what happens! It's always interesting to see the difference between indoor and outdoor scores..."