Junior Team 1999

1st WJGC. Terlet, Holland

JOE WALTER (age 22)
Hinckley Soaring, IL
STANDARD CLASS (Discus A "YL")

Senior at University of Wisconsin. Commercial and CFI glider licenses. 900 soaring hours. FAI Silver badge. SSA Kolstad award 1993. Holds 4 IL State soaring records. 1-26 Championships Youth Award 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996. Junior National Champion 1997. Pilot at EJGC 95 (Club), 97 (Std). Ranked 64th out of 533 on SSA competitor list.

Joe, a 1-26 owner, added higher performance machines to his repertoiire in an SZD Junior at the 1995 EJGC. With that glider being outside the FAI handicapping range, it was a struggle for him to score high, but he flew a litle faster every day. Since then, he has won the following: Several FAI Regional contest days in an LS-4, an entire FAI Regionals in an LS-3 (Region 1 15m, 1997), a Sports Nationals contest day in an LS-1f, and an EJGC contest day in a Discus. It should be noted that all those sailplanes were loaned to him for free by different supporters. Joe is also a fine artist and raises funds for the Team selling lithographs and T-shirts.

LIZ SCHWENKLER (age 21)
Harris Hill Soaring Corp., NY
STANDARD CLASS (prototype Falcon "OU")

Commercial and CFI glider licenses. 700 soaring hours. FAI Silver badge, 1 Diamond. SSA Bultman award 1995. SSA Kolstad award 1995. Holds 13 NY State soaring records. Junior National Champion 1996, 1998. Pilot at EJGC 97 (Club). Ranked 166th out of 533 on SSA competitor list.

Liz won the Region 3 Sports Class contest outright in 1996, beating seniors as well as juniors, a landmark event among young pilots. Since then, she has flown several more Regionals and the Nationals for Sports, Standard, and 15 m Classes, not to mention turning in our Team's highest placing at EJGC 97. In contests last summer, she edged out both Joe and Dan and even won a day at the Standard Nationals. Liz works for M&H Soaring Services and has apprenticed at the Schemppp-Hirth factory. She has been President of the Harris Hill Junior Organization and has many fans at the nation's "soaring capital".

TIM HANKE (age 23)
Finger Lakes SC, NY
CLUB CLASS (Std. Libelle "M1")

Senior at Rochester Institute of Technology. Commercial and CFI glider licenses. 1,000 soaring hours. FAI Gold badge, 1 Diamond. SSA Kolstad award, 1991. Holds 6 NY Junior State soaring records. Pilot at EJGC 97 (Std). Ranked 256th out of 533 on SSA competitor list.

Tim was the first member of our Team to fly in a Nationals, and he has been able to fly more Regionals than any young pilot and build lots of time in George Wiederkehr's LS-1f and his father's Discus. One of his more memorable Discus flights was a 500K successfully flown in cold Spring weather over extensive New England forests. When not flying contests or studying architecture, Tim has proven invaluable in managing the Team's publicity, fund-rasing, and logistics efforts. For Holland this summer, Tim has arranged to fly a Libelle just like the one he owns at home.

DAN SORENSON (age 20)
Soaring Club of Houston, TX
CLUB CLASS (Std. Cirrus "IHE")

Sophomore at Texas A&M University. Private glider license. 500 soaring hours. FAI Silver badge, 1 Diamond. SSA Kolstad award 1996. Holds 3 TX State soaring records. Ranked 26th out of 533 on SSA competitor list.

After years crewing for his Dad and famous friends like Doug Jacobs, Dan rocketed up the standings as soon as he started racing himself. Flying a club 1-34, he placed in the top 5 at both the 1996 Region 9 and Region 10 Sports Class contests. With a share in an ASTIR in 1997, he placed 3rd in both contests! His chance to climb even higher came at the 1998 World Class Nationals, where he drove his borrowed PW-5 to a close 2nd behind WGC pilot Bill Bartell. All of this took place in and around Texas, but we feel certain that Dan can adapt to milder Dutch weather.

photos courtesy the pilots