posted May 29th, 2018 - The season opener of the Midwest Skydiving League had record participation last weekend at Skydive Chicago. It was the first time in the long history of the league that a total of nine teams attended the first meet of a new outdoor season.

SDC Rhythm XP's event organizers and coaches JaNette and Steve Lefkowitz and team mate Andrew Happick had teams in each of the four NSL categories, while the six teams in the AA Class helped to create the largest leaderboard of the weekend, together with five teams from the Northern Plains Skydiving League.

Four MWSL teams occupied the top positions before the first team from the Northern Plains, PIIA, took the 5th place. The Czech Republic did not have a AA Class team on the leaderboard and won the other three categories (AAA - A - RRR).

The AA Class winner is a new team, as six of the nine Midwest teams are. Only three teams had a scoring record in the NSL News archives before they competed last weekend at the MWSL season opener. SDC Jetstream Tango XP is the longest standing MWSL team, and the two teams behind SDC Rhevolution trained and competed last year, as well. DMS Freakz on Couches is in the team's third year.

NSL Meet Weekend May 26th, 2018			1		2		3		4		5		6		Total	Avg
Rank	AA Class		P,7,F		18,19		O,H,11		9,K,L		2,14		13,G,N		Total	Avg
1	SDC Rhevolution XP	MWSL	16		9		12		12		9		9		67	11.2
2	Hands Free	MWSL	14		8		11		12		8		8		61	10.2
3	DMS Freakz on Couches	MWSL	12		7		9		10		7		7		52	8.7
4	Rhockets	MWSL	11		8		9		8		7		7		50	8.3
5	PIIA	NPSL	9		6		10		8		6		6		45	7.5
6	Double Entendre	MWSL	11		2	-3	7		6		6		6		38	6.3
7	SDMW Storm	MWSL	7		6		7		7		4		4		35	5.8
8	French Toast Mafia	NPSL	10		7		0	-1	6		4	-1	4		31	5.2
9	4-LOCOS	NPSL	7		5		7		3		4		3		29	4.8
10	Gippin' Doughnuts	NPSL	6		2		7		4		2		2	-1	23	3.8
11	3-Ring Circus	NPSL	5		2	-1	6	-1	2		2		1		18	3.0

Hands Free had a personnel change after the team's first appearance at USPA Nationals. Tim McKee, Ed Ganley and Brian Turk, all from Ohio and Michigan, connected with a new team member from their northern regions, while Emily Bombardi continues with her 4-way career in Florida.

Hands Free were very fortunate with the team's new member, as Daniele Smythe is a very experienced and successful 4-way competitor.

She trained and competed with SDMW NEXT in 2016 and 2017 and won USPA's Advanced Class gold medals at the USPA Nationals 2016 with a 16.9 meet average, which tied the highest one in Advanced Class history by SDC Rhythm XP.

It was her first year with NEXT that turned out so perfectly, and the team decided to continue for another year.

NEXT lifted the meet average to 17.3 a year later in the AAA/Open Class at the national championships and did not make new plans for 2018. The NSL News met the team live for NSL Talk at their last competition together, and the video was posted on 24 September 2017.

USPA Nationals 2017			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class		O,4,9		G,21,A,H		N,D,J,14		L,16,12		K,19,6		E,2,10		P,11,15		17,3,22		F,7,1		Q,5,M,20		Total	Avg
1	NMP PCH HayaBusa	BE	31		33		28	-2	23	-1	25		23		23	-1	22		31		31		270	27.0
2	Arizona Airspeed	US	27		32		29		22		24		22		21	-1	23		29		29		258	25.8
3	SDC Rhythm XP	US	29		31		28	-1	23		22		20	-1	23		19		28	-1	29		252	25.2
4	Golden Knights	US	24		26	-1	28		22		18	-3	19		20		19	-1	24		23		223	22.3
5	Airspeed Odyssey	US	25	-1	23	-1	27	-1	19		22		19		19		17		23	-1	23		217	21.7
6	Defiance	US	24		24		26		18		19		17	-1	19		16	-1	24		22	-1	209	20.9
7	GKBC	US	24		19	-4	24		15	-2	17	-1	17		18		16		23		20	-1	193	19.3
8	Dallas 350	US	18		23		24		16		16	-1	16		16		11		22		19		181	18.1
9	ISR FireFlash	BE	21		22		19	-1	14	-2	17		16	-1	14	-2	16		20		19	-1	178	17.8
10	SDMW NEXT XP	US	15	-3	25		17	-3	17		15	-2	16		16		15		23		14		173	17.3
11	Spaceland Lite	US	19		22		19		12	-2	17		14		13	-1	8	-2	19		17	-1	160	16.0
12	Phoenix XP	US	16	-1	18		19		13		13	-1	13	-1	14		14		15	-2	17		152	15.2
13	Long Shot	US	16	-1	14	-1	15	-2	13	-1	13	-1	14		12	-2	12		16	-1	17		142	14.2
14	Arizona Alpha	US	17		17		11	-3	12	-1	14		13	-1	12		13		17		12	-2	138	13.8
15	Perris Quicksilver	US	15		17		12	-3	11		11	-1	13		12		10	-1	16		13		130	13.0

NEXT tail Chris Haslam joined Ranch 2nd Generation for the 2018 season, as the NSL News reported on 1 December 2017. Daniele Smythe scaled down her efforts after two very intensive years with NEXT and connected with the three Hands Full/Hands Free members.

She switched from point to her former B-slot, and Ed Ganley moved from outside center to the point slot where he replaced Emily Bombardi. Tim McKee (inside center) and Brian Turk (tail) came back in their familiar slots.

Hands Free met a few times for indoor training, and Round 1 last weekend at the MWSL season opener was also the team's first outdoor jump from the Twin Otter in Ottawa.

The 10.2 average was a very promising start into the 2018 season, after the 8.0 finish at the USPA Nationals last year.

For the exits and the first formation of each sequence, Hands Free follow one of the experiences that Daniele Smythe brought to the team. SDMW NEXT won the AAA/Advanced Class gold medals in 2016 with the Bow (H) as the standard exit formation.

Last and not least at all, Hands Free videographer Adam Elkin knew how to film a Bow. He was the NEXT videographer in 2016 and 2017 and is now in charge of keeping all scoring formations in frame for SDC Rhythm XP...