Wilmington men set record, take gold at national skydiving competition
WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — Two Wilmington men can call themselves champions after winning gold in a unique competition.
Jeremy Stanley and Michael Colella won gold medals and set a new national record at the 2017 U.S. Parachute Association National Collegiate Parachuting Championships in Florida last week.
The event is the oldest and biggest collegiate skydiving event in the world with more than 80 skydivers from around the country competing.
Stanley and Colella won gold in the 6-way formation skydiving event, and Stanley also took gold in advanced 4-way formation skydiving. 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.
Stanley and Colella’s 6-way team also set a new national record by completing the six-person formation in a mere 9.16 seconds after exiting the airplane.
Stanley and Colella are cadets at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, New York. They are juniors majoring in civil engineering. Both have completed about 400 skydives.
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