Many people say they want to skydive, but those in the Iowa State Skydiving Club actually do. Brad Eichelberger, an ISU senior, was one of four members of the club who participated in the National Collegiate Parachuting Championships in Marana, Ariz., over Christmas break. He placed third in the novice division of the target accuracy competition. He is a member of FarmHouse Fraternity. Eichelberger, who has made 72 jumps, said target accuracy is based on four jumps from 3,000 feet.
Jumpers wait five seconds after exiting the aircraft to pull their rip cord.
Then they attempt to guide themselves to a small target on the field below. Judges measure distance from the target and then it is totaled. Whoever has the lowest total distance wins the gold medal. On his first jump he was only 1.63 meters from the target, but his best was his third jump where he was just .76 meters away. Other members of the ISU team that went to the skydiving meet were Barry Lovelace, Rob Meyer and Pat Mink.