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Practical Exams
With difficult winter weather across the country over the end-of-year holidays, Lake Wales, Florida, made a perfect winter location for the 2004 National Collegiate Parachuting Championships. Using borrowed hangars, plus mobile offices, showers and judging rooms for the December 28-30 event, the DZ made do after four hurricanes last fall left the airport in ruins. Paul Fayard's Twin Otters and a Cessna 182 provided air support. As in years past, meet director Bill Wenger brought a support crew and a trailer full of supplies and equipment from the U.S. Air Force Academy, where he serves as coach. Ninety-four competitors representing 19 schools entered the championships, a dozen more than last year. Students from the Army and Air Force academies outnumbered the civilians two-to-one, but they didn't take home all the medals. Collegiates includes three divisions-novice, intermediate and masters. In the two formation skydiving competitions, 2-way is open only to novices-those with fewer than 125 freefalls-but the 4-way event can include any mixture. The new medal event, sport accuracy, drew 26 competitors in three classes. In classic accuracy, 52 collegians vied for recognition in the three classes. Only seven teams entered the freefly test event, none from the military schools. But except for three competitors from Texas A&M and Tennessee, the rest of the 37 competitors in classic freefall style came from the military schools. Air Force Academy senior Eli Smith-Persons was named overall champion, earning the Istel Scholarship, managed by the National Aeronautic Association on behalf of skydiving pioneer Jacques Istel in memory of his father, Jacques Andre Istel. Next year the collegiates returns to the Florida Skydiving Center, and the Lake Wales staff plans to be ready with a brand-new operation. |
