posted Sep 19th, 2006 - The last competition of the Midwest Skydiving League 2006 season, the NSL Playoffs 2006 event in the Midwest region, was threatened with cancellation by mechanical issues and weather. MWSL Director Alan Butt wrote the meet story and provided the background information.

We managed to work our way around both obstacles and, somewhat amazingly, completed all ten rounds by Sunday afternoon. The meet was originally scheduled to be hosted by Sky Knights SPC, but mechanical issues with the planned jump plane forced a last minute change.

Good cooperation and coordination between SkyKnights, Chicagoland Skydiving, meet coach Todd Hawkins and the MWSL teams resulted in a successful move to CSC. Despite a forecast of winds up to 35mph for Saturday and rain on Sunday, three teams (CSC Rubicon, CSC Sirens and Just4Fun) were at the DZ at 8:00 am on Saturday, ready to jump.

The turnout was light, but we had the good fortune of all the teams competing in the same competition class. Rubicon (Brian Darnell, Rich Madsen, Laurent Beaudouin, Steve Lefkowitz, Kevin Naftzger-v) opted to jump in the AA Class where they will compete at the USPA Nationals next month.

Despite a strong first round by the Wisconsin team Just4Fun, the contest rapidly became an exciting 2-horse race between the two home teams. Close races between teams in the same class have been a bit rare in the MWSL this season, but that would not be the case last weekend.

Rubicon and the CSC Sirens (Barbie Carqueville, Susan Crowe, Karyn Rees, JaNette Lefkowitz, Brad Vancina –v) were never separated by more than two points throughout the meet. Rubicon was enjoying their best meet of the season, scoring in double digits in each round.

However, the Sirens put six strong rounds together as well, and in the end the MWSL had its first tie for first place this season. Fortunately, the already planned rounds 7 - 10 of the NSL Playoffs 2006 offered a ready-made tie-breaker.

Sunday morning the winds started out much lighter than we had experienced on Saturday, when they caused several wind holds. As it turned out, only one round would be needed to determine our winner. Rubicon continued its string of double digit rounds with a 10-pointer for E-7-19, but the Sirens smoked it with a 13-pointer and captured meet five 76 - 73.

Despite a forecast that was even worse than Saturday's had been, we were easily able to complete the remaining three rounds of the NSL Playoffs 2006 weekend. The Sirens returned to their 10+ average form after slumping at MWSL Meet 4, scoring a season high 10.6 average over ten rounds.

Rubicon fell just short of the 10-point average and finished with a total of 98 points, event though the team had its best meet and scored in double digits in every round but two. However, the Rubicon performance easily earned them the 4th and final "PD Challenge" prize of the season, which included a selection of the sharp new 2006 t-shirts, courtesy of Isaiah McCauliffe and the great folks at Performance Designs. Thanks to Lisa and Melissa for making sure we were able to get all ten rounds in before the weather did eventually put a stop to the jumping.

The other highlight of our meet, along with the team work that kept the meet from being cancelled and the great contest between the Sirens and Rubicon, was the presence of Todd Hawkins. Todd brought all the knowledge, professionalism and communication skills that the skydiving world has come to expect from members of the Airspeed organization.

Todd's experience and coaching skills brought a level of insight and advice that is rarely available to competitors here in the Midwest. Thanks again to Todd and CSC for showing the flexibility needed to keep his visit from being disrupted by the unexpected problems with the original meet plane.

Since this was our final meet of the 2006 season, our wrap-up also included the awarding of season prizes. Gold medal winner of the AAA Class was CSC Rubicon. The CSC Sirens took the gold medals in the AA Class, and Just 4Fun claimed silver. Chasing Amy won the MWSL gold medals of the A Class. There was good participation in our Rookie Class this year, but no team made the 3-meet minimum for medals. Congratulations to all the competitors and best of luck to those whose season continues at the USPA Nationals 2006 and the NSL Championship at SkyQuest 2006 later this fall.

As it always seems to be the case, the MWSL season seems to start with a great deal of waiting followed by a rush of activity that ends sooner than seems possible. I want to thank everyone who contributed to the MWSL 2006 season. This includes Doug Smith, Todd Davis and all the CSC staff, Rook and Melissa Nelson and the SDC staff, as well as Sky Knights SPC for all they did in hosting our meets and supporting the league.

Thanks to Trevor Thompson and Ron Landon from SkyVenture Orlando, MWSL sponsors since 2002; Isaiah McCauliffe and Performance Designs, J. Schrimsher and our friends at SunPath for all their support this season. Thanks to assistant league director Drew Hickok for helping with several meets and working with the nascent NSL/MWSL swooping competition, as well as NSL President Kurt Gaebel for his leadership and support.

But mostly thank you to all of those who competed this season, without whom there would be no MWSL, and especially our regular video flyers who often did back-to-back loads so that the meets could keep up a competitive pace. Hope to see all of you plus many new faces in 2007!