Spaceland Fifth Anniversary Sport Accuracy Competition Draws 49 Competitors

In early October, Skydive Spaceland celebrated the fifth anniversary of its now biannual Sport Accuracy competition with our biggest one yet! The Oct. 5-6 competition drew 49 competitors, with all five Spacelands participating at some point in the weekend (which Mother Nature doesn’t always allow!). Skydive Spaceland began these popular competitions in partnership with The Ratings Center (TRC) back in 2014 to help increase focus on safe, accurate landings. Wing loadings ranged from 0.79 to 2.0.

See photos on Facebook! Please help tag everyone! 🙂

There is never an entry fee, and TRC generously provides canopy coaching free of charge for practice jumps, the three-round competition, and the rest of the weekend at most locations. Competitors learn lots from group video debriefs of each round. The competition mostly follows Collegiate sport accuracy rules, in which competitors are scored on the distance from their first ground contact to the target. Penalties are added for complete misses of the target area, not containing (stopping) the landing within the target area, and for not landing completely on their feet.

Often, competitors all incur some penalty or another across the three rounds. However, this time six of the 49 competitors went penalty-free, so the competition for the grand prize of a free day of jumping was fierce!

“It’s not every competition where someone can get two dead centers in three rounds and still end up fifth in their class,” said Houston meet director/Spaceland marketing director Christy West. “This was an excellent competition and we’re really seeing the evolution of skill and safety over the years in all classes.”

In the end, CD Richardson in Houston won the overall competition with a grand total of only 8.46 meters! In the novice class for jumpers with less than 100 jumps, Natalia Trevino from San Marcos had the lowest score of 53.66 m. Richard Drew from San Marcos swept the intermediate class (101-350 jumps) with 10.39 meters.

The top three jumpers in each class at each location won discounted jump days of $13, $18, and $23 jumps from Skydive Spaceland. Complete scores are online at https://bit.ly/2nPAdk0.

Major thanks are due to the many people required to direct and coordinate this meet across five dropzones in three states! Brandon Radcliff hosted and coached the Florida meet with Mauricio Martinez taking photos, Lisa Bailey hosted in Atlanta with Christian Jones’ help, Lauren Young hosted in San Marcos with DJ Marvin coaching and Megan McNamara taking photos, Leslie Hanna hosted in Dallas with Daniel McLaurin coaching and Deanna Anderson/Taryn Ecton/Christy Clevenger assisting, and West hosted in Houston with Josh Schirard/Amanda Richie assisting, David Quist coaching, and Cindy Guire taking photos. Thanks as always to all the manifestors who made it work also!

“Just do it!” said Houston master’s class competitor Brian K. Lawson says to those considering this competition in the future. “Take advantage of the coaching as we often forget about improving those skills.”

Spaceland and TRC will continue to hold these popular meets biannually. Stay tuned for the 2020 schedule!

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Competition Winners

Complete scores are online at https://bit.ly/2nPAdk0.

HOUSTON WINNERS

Masters: 

1. CD Richardson, winning a free day of jumps for winning overall. 
2. Hudson Kay, winning $18 jumps for a day ($10 off each).
3. Josh Petit, winning $23 jumps for a day ($5 off each).

Intermediate: 

1. Farlie Hall, winning $13 jumps for a day ($15 off each).
2. Manny Aponte, winning $18 jumps for a day ($10 off each).
3. Mandy McGowan, winning $23 jumps for a day ($5 off each).

Novice: 

1. Greg Armstrong, winning $13 jumps for a day ($15 off each).
2. Justin Wilhelm, winning $18 jumps for a day ($10 off each).
3. Tati Arevalo, winning $23 jumps for a day ($5 off each).

SAN MARCOS WINNERS

Masters: 

1. Majed Abouhatab, winning $13 jumps for a day ($15 off each).
2. Robert Gates, winning $18 jumps for a day ($10 off each).

Intermediate: 

1. Richard Drew, winning $13 jumps for a day ($15 off each).
2. Andrew Clemens, winning $18 jumps for a day ($10 off each).
3. Bob Bryfogle, winning $23 jumps for a day ($5 off each).

Novice: 

1. Natalia Trevino, winning $13 jumps for a day ($15 off each).
2. John Selvaraj, winning $18 jumps for a day ($10 off each).
3. Wayne Miller, winning $23 jumps for a day ($5 off each).

DALLAS WINNERS

Masters: 

1. Joseph Gerner, winning $13 jumps for a day ($15 off each).
2. Brett Bradley, winning $18 jumps for a day ($10 off each).

Intermediate: 

1. Dylan Tompkins, winning $13 jumps for a day ($15 off each).
2. James Denoyer, winning $18 jumps for a day ($10 off each).
3. Pressley Bonner, winning $23 jumps for a day ($5 off each).

Novice: 

1. Samuil Borisov, winning $13 jumps for a day ($15 off each).
2. Robert Mickle, winning $18 jumps for a day ($10 off each).
3. Deanna Anderson, winning $23 jumps for a day ($5 off each).

ATLANTA WINNERS

Masters: 

1. Gabe Pardo, winning $13 jumps for a day ($15 off each).
2. Justin Hammonds, winning $18 jumps for a day ($10 off each).

Intermediate: 

1. Juan Daza, winning $13 jumps for a day ($15 off each).
2. CJ Adamson, winning $18 jumps for a day ($10 off each).
3. Santiago Salazar, winning $23 jumps for a day ($5 off each).

Novice: 

1. No entries/no winners

FLORIDA WINNERS

Masters: 

1. Alex Glock, winning $13 jumps for a day ($15 off each).
2. Raz Toderica, winning $18 jumps for a day ($10 off each).

Intermediate: 

1. Curtis Soles, winning $13 jumps for a day ($15 off each).

Novice: 

1. Nicole Arruda, winning $13 jumps for a day ($15 off each).