posted Jul 19th, 2006 - The third competition of the Mideast Skydiving League added two teams to the AA Class leaderboard last weekend. Mystic Rhythms and Vortex attended the MESL event that was scheduled to take place at Skydive Wayne County. The situation in Richmond turned out to be different than planned, and the small event was relocated to Skydive Greene County in Xenia, OH.

MESL Director Randy Connell explained the reason: "Skydive Wayne County was the scheduled host DZ for this weekend's meet. However, the aircraft arrived an hour and a half late and was a Beech-99 instead of the promised Caravan. The door of the 99 is not suitable for 4-way competition."

The Beech-99 came from Skydive Greensburg. The two MESL teams consulted with each other and decided to quickly relocate. Randy Connell explained that there were no hard feelings in Richmond:

"This could have proved embarrassing for the DZ, but all of the competitors recognized that this was not the fault of Skydive Wayne County. The competitors extended their apologies to the Wayne County DZO, then hopped in their cars and made the drive to Skydive Greene County in Xenia, OH."

Mystic Rhythms and Vortex arrived early enough at the new location and easily completed the 6-round event. Both teams enjoyed the relaxed pace, and Mystic Rhythms finished the competition with a 9.7 record average. Randy Connell said that the 10.0 average was in reach for the MESL team:

"Mystic Rhythmns scored a solid 9.7 average, which moved the team up to number seven of the NSL Rankings for the AA Class. If not for four infringements and some glitches in round six, a 10-point average was well within their grasp. Vortex struggled with exits and posted a 4.3 average despite an improvement in block work since the previous meet. The team continues to hit the set goals."

Last weekend's AA Class competition was the tightest one of all classes. Four teams finished at the 10.0 average level or better, and the same four teams were separated by only four points. Even the next four teams were still in striking distance in every round of the meet.

Skydive Chicago Furies won the AA Class competition by one single point over Chicagoland Skydiving Center's Sirens with a 10.7 average. However, the Furies were able to claim the highest sole score for a round only in round six. The Sirens had the highscore in the first round of the meet and shared it with the Furies in round two.

Cross Keys Air Pollution (3rd) and Mystic Rhythms (5th) won round three with 10-pointers. The Sirens posted the highest score of round four with a 12-pointer, and four teams were only one point behind, including Controlled Descent (4th) and Cohesion (6th).

Cross Keys Air Pollution, Controlled Descent and Mystic Rhythms beat the two female line-ups of the Midwest Skydiving League in round five (9 - 8), and only the oustanding 18-pointer by the Furies in round six won the meet for the team from Skydive Chicago.

CK Air Pollution and CSC Sirens finsihed last weekend's competition tied in 2nd place, while SDC Furies and CK Air Pollution now share the first place in the AA Class Rankings with a 10.1 season average. The current leader, Last Second, was only a guest and pickup team at the FSL Shamrock Showdown 2006.

MESL team Mystic Rhythms might become one of the new top contenders in the AA Class. The Mideast Skydiving League moves on and will return to Richmond for the August meet.