This year Skyhoundz changed the rules to make room for a new youth division. Only the top 3 freestyle and D&A teams would be moving on. This got us a little worried though Jack had never finished below 3rd in D&A in the years he qualified for it. As it was, we never expected he'd be able to make the top 4 in freestyle much less the top 3 considering he hadn't even made the cut to a 2nd round at a Skyhoundz event though he came close to the cut last year.
Well... on Saturday it was pretty windy and a lot of the competitors had trouble with the wind. Jack considers the wind his nemesis so he was pretty nervous about it. He just hasn't gotten to the point yet that he can think about where the wind is coming from and adjust accordingly all while remembering his routine and getting his disc placement just right. He and Tali went out there though and had a good round in round 1. Not their best ever by any means but apparently good enough because they made the cut and were #1 going into the 2nd round. We were SHOCKED! Happy but shocked!
Next came the D&A round that goes towards the overall freestyle score. Jack was nervous again because of the wind but he managed to sail the discs right down the middle of the field. He and Tali came away with a decent round of D&A of 13.5 points. Not their best but hopefully enough when all was said and done.
Then it was on to the 2nd round of Freestyle. Jack and Tali went out there and rocked it - probably one of their best competition rounds I've seen. Not perfect by any means but still quite good considering the wind. Tali was on too - very drivey and focused. Would it be enough though to stay in the top 3? We had high hopes and sure enough - they not only made the top 3 they won the whole darn thing! Woo hoo! Definitely not an expected outcome but certainly a very exciting one!
Day 2 of the weekend was the Pairs Freestyle and D&A qualifier. Jack, Gary and Bayer did awesome in their round and came away with 1st place. If they can do as good as that at Worlds they have a real shot at the podium! We will all have our fingers crossed for that! New this year though was Jack joining our friend Chris Engel and his dog Kota as a pairs team. Chris lives about 1.5 hours north of us so it's hard for them to get together and practice but they managed to a few times. I personally didn't expect them to qualify this year however Kota must have because she was a catching fool and did a great job - the best ever for her in their pairs routine and they actually qualified after having to do a 10 second tie-breaker against our good friends Bob and Colleen Heygi who have qualified in previous years.
As for D&A... again the wind was tough and the cut off for the top 6 was 11 points or something close to that. Pretty bad... Tali and Jack managed to make the cut and land in 3rd going into round 2 however they only got 2 points in their 2nd round so no qualifying spot for them this year. The wind was pushing the discs down at the last minute and Tali just wasn't kicking it into gear to snag them for some reason. Oh well... no big deal... she more than pulled her weight on Saturday and pulled off a very unexpected win so we'll cut her some slack about D&A! :) Ruckus tried for a spot as well but the wind and such just wasn't working in his favor and he didn't make the cut. I'm sure that we'll try again at the open qualifier with them both but we won't be holding our breath on that one - SOOOO many teams compete at the last chance qualifier - it makes it tough but we'll see!
All in all it was an awesome weekend! Couldn't have asked for more and couldn't be more thrilled. Now we have to gear up for the upcoming weekend - the Purina Incredible Dog Challenge! That should be a ton of fun and certainly the win last weekend takes some of the pressure off of this weekend coming up. The goal for this weekend is to just get out there and have some fun in front of the crowd as a "celebration" of their win from last weekend. Whatever happens with the placements happens... they will just enjoy the moment in the process!
Here are some pics of Jack and Tali from the weekend. I'll likely post later tonight or tomorrow with Pairs photos and videos from last weekend so stay tuned!
