Members of the West Point Parachute Team won multiple gold medals during winter break at the 2016 U.S. Parachute Association National Collegiate Parachuting (USPA) Championships, the oldest and biggest collegiate skydiving event in the world, held at Skydive Arizona, south of Phoenix. This year's championships drew 80 collegiate skydivers from around the country to compete for the title of national collegiate champion in four spectacular skydiving disciplines: Formation Skydiving, Vertical Formation Skydiving, Sport Accuracy and Classic Accuracy.
USMA cadets won gold in both the 2-way and 6-way formation skydiving events. In formation skydiving, the team leaps from an aircraft more than two miles above the ground and then races against the clock to form prescribed geometric formations in freefall before opening their parachutes. Two-way team members are Cadets Michael Colella and Camm Johnson. Six-way team members are Cadets Zachary Beavor, Aleksa Davis, Joseph Presti, Ishmael Raheem, Jacob Shepherd and Clinton Wallace.
In addition, West Point's John Snurkowski took gold in the classic accuracy competition, in which jumpers exit an airplane more than 3,000 feet in the air and then steer their parachutes and try to land on a dime-sized dot on a landing tuffet. West Point also won the team sport accuracy event. In this event, skydivers try to land their parachutes as close as possible to a target while flying across the ground at high speeds. Team members are Davis, Presti, Raheem and Kristopher Hayhurst. Additionally, Cadet Thomas Rounds won gold in individual novice sport accuracy.
Photo courtesy of David Cherry
