2021 USPA National Collegiate Skydiving Championships Coverage

January 3, 2022—“See you next year!” rang loudly and frequently at Skydive Elsinore on Sunday and Monday. Competitors packing up their gear after the final day of competition were already looking forward to next year's National Collegiate Skydiving Championships. Joseph Catlett of the United States Air Force Academy took the Andres-Istel Memorial Scholarship, which is given at the competition each year to the overall most competitive skydiver, and he and his teammates graciously passed the money along to Western Michigan University's Skydive Broncos.

4-way FS was the final event to finish, with four full rounds taking place Sunday morning. The results are:

4-way FS, Open Class
Gold—AF Stallions
Silver—AF Night Fury
Bronze—AF Atlas

4-way FS, Advanced Class
Gold—SB-Not Last (Western Michigan)
Silver—West Point—Spoon Fed
Bronze—West Point—Dem Dawgs

Congratulations to all the competitors at this year's National Collegiate Skydiving Championships, and look for the full article on the competition in your March issue of Parachutist!

The US Air Force Academy 4-way FS teams missed each other enough in freefall that they all decided to land together.

January 1, 2022

2-way FS competitors land beside the sunset after one of the last jumps of the day.

Andrew Sillhart of gold-medal-winning 6-way FS team AF Bones gives a thumbs up after a successful load.

SB—ZooDive from Western Michigan and UC, Berkeley experiments with new ways to stay warm at altitude.

The gorgeous skies continued today at Skydive Elsinore, and both drop zone and meet staffs worked hard to get competitors through all rounds of 2-way VFS, 2-way FS and 6-way Speed. “5th, 4th, 3rd place continue to be separated by a point or less,” said emcee Andy Malchiodi during the awards ceremony tonight. “And that means that we've had some tight races and great jumps from our competitors.” Tomorrow will conclude the 2021 National Collegiate Skydiving Championships, with 4-way FS still left on the schedule. Today's results are:

6-way Speed
Gold—AF Bones
Silver—AF Dragon
Bronze—West Point—Rolling Stones

2-way VFS
Gold—AF Orion

2-way FS, Open Class
Gold—West Point—Good Guys
Silver—AF Grizz
Bronze—West Point—Boat Crew Two

2-way FS, Advanced Class
Gold—2 Guys 1 Funnel (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)
Silver—UCONN Do It!
Bronze—Bing Bong (Rochester Institute of Technology)

December 31, 2021—In the early hours of this morning, jumpers gathered at Skydive Elsinore to discuss the strange and unfamiliar color they saw in the sky. Once Meet Director Randy Connell correctly diagnosed it as “blue,” the skydivers loaded into Caravans and began the four rounds of the Sport Accuracy event. New Year's Eve proved to be the most productive day of the event so far (confirmed the moment the second load boarded the airplane) and thanks to the efforts of an all-star cast of drop zone staff, Sport Accuracy finished in time for 6-way Speed to reach its halfway point. Here are the Sport Accuracy results:

Masters Class
Gold—Joseph Catlett—US Air Force Academy
Silver—Eugene Smith—US Air Force Academy
Bronze—Nathan Kueterman—Western Michigan University
Intermediate Class
Gold—Mitchell Jorgenson—US Naval Academy
Silver—Garrett Mohney—Western Michigan University
Bronze—Will Shanahan—US Military Academy
Novice Class
Gold—Kai Burgman—US Military Academy
Silver—Kyle Sarrazola—US Military Academy
Bronze—Jason Darnell—US Military Academy
Team Sport Accuracy
Gold—West Point—Crush Lamp
Silver—West Point—Rolling Stones
Bronze—Air Force—When

Tomorrow begins with 6-way Speed, then will continue into the other FS events!

Alex Collins of the US Air Force Academy executes a perfect dead center landing.

Nathan Kueterman lays it all on the line to keep his landing inside the circle. Video by Eric Swatoski.

December 29, 2021—Click to play!

4-way FS teams board today's first and only load.

"It’s a lot like the energy death of the universe," said Meet Director Randy Connell at last night’s opening briefing. “All we have is theory.”

Connell was referring to the weather and uncertainty of blue skies this week—and sure enough, today proved to be mostly dark and gray. One competition load of four 4-way FS teams was able to make a single jump, but not long after the second load received their 20-minute call, operations shut down.

Competitors, however, remain focused on succeeding whenever the opportunity to jump does come. “You just can’t worry about it,” said Colton Churches of SB—Not Last, who was set to jump on that second load. “We’ve focused on Round 1, and will keep focusing on Round 1 until we jump it.” USPA Controller Steve Hubbard echoed the sentiment: “That’s part of what competition is, and always has been. Waiting for your chance to jump and keeping yourself ready.”

In related news, rain dances will be prohibited at the drop zone bonfire tonight.

December 28, 2021—College skydivers from across the country gathered today at Skydive Elsinore to begin the 2021 National Collegiate Skydiving Championships. They will compete over the next five days in 2-way and 4-way FS, 6-way Speed, 2-way VFS and Sport Accuracy. Competitors largely hail from military schools—the United States Military Academy, Air Force Academy and Naval Academy all showed up in force—but many non-military college students made the trip as well. Skydivers showed to represent Columbia University, Georgia Institute of Technology, Iowa State University, Three Rivers Community College, Rochester Institute of Technology, University of California, Berkeley, University of Connecticut, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Western Michigan University.

At 85 total athletes competing, this is one of the largest Collegiates of the past decade. “There are noticeably more non-military competitors this year,” said Madigan Carroll of UIUC, who is attending his second championships. Randy Connell (Meet Director), Judy Celaya (Chief Judge) and Steve Hubbard (USPA Controller) will preside over the meet. “We have seven judges with over 100 years of judging experience,” said Connell during tonight's briefing. “So you know you're getting the best of the best.”

After a rough start to the event's weather, the competitors will spend tomorrow hoping for bluer skies. “You'd think California would have some decent weather, but I guess we'll see,” said Isaac Schultz of UC, Berkeley after the two Otters and two Caravans stayed grounded today. The order of events moving forward will be dictated by what weather allows.

Keep checking this page for daily 2021 National Collegiate Skydiving Championships scores and updates!

Meet Director Randy Connell addresses competitors during tonight's briefing.

Gray skies loom above the Otters at Skydive Elsinore.