posted Oct 25th, 2015 - The first Formation Skydiving event of the USPA Nationals 2015 was completed on Saturday. The 4-way VFS teams have only eight rounds on their agenda, due to a smaller dive pool, and they did all of them on one day.

Skydive Chicago is once again hosting the new US national 4-way team, three years after SDC Standard won the USPA Nationals the last time. Arizona Arsenal took over in 2013 and defended the US title successfully after competing for the US delegation at the world meet in Prostejov 2014.

Former Dubai Nexus members Jason Russell and Stephanie Strange, silver medalists at the Mondial Dubai 2012, then formed SDC Core, with Dusty Hanks and Ryan Risberg in the new lineup and Jake Jensen on camera.

USPA Nationals 2015		Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4	Round 5	Round 6	Round 7	Round 8	Total	Avg
Rank	VFS Open Class	B,9,11	K,C,D,17	N,L,M,F,J	I,2,12	8,10,7	14,5,1	16,15,13	H,G,A,6	Total	Avg
1	SDC Core	23	18	24	25	22	19	14	20	165	20.6
2	Arizona Arsenal	21	19	19	19	19	18	15	16	146	18.3
3	Arizona X Force	15	11	12	19	15	14	9	10	105	13.1
4	Golden Knights	18	10	13	13	15	13	13	8	103	12.9
5	Super Serious	12	11	9	9	12	13	10	10	86	10.8
6	AZ Movement	10	9	10	9	6	12	9	8	73	9.1
Rank	VFS Intermediate	8,9	A,B,J	15,16	K,E,12	C,N,13	7,14	2,1	3,L	Total	Avg
1	Frosty Mongoose Time	9	9	6	9	8	9	11	14	75	9.4
2	Forgy	8	6	0	7	5	6	11	5	48	6.0
3	Taft Top Secret	4	4	3	2	3	4	5	4	29	3.6
4	Bust A Move	3	4	1	0	2	3	5	6	24	3.0

SDC Core started off with a 3rd place at the USPA Nationals 2014, where SDC Standard finished behind Arizona Arsenal in 2nd place. Standard did not continue, while Core was planning for the 2015 season and the top position in the USA.

SDC Core used the Paraclete XP Outdoor Championship 2015 to get more competition practice, even though there were no other VFS teams in DeLand in March. The sharp eyes of the event judges (Eric Heinsheimer, Jim Rees, Chris Talbert) were enough reason to attend the DeLand competition.

The progression obviously continued throughout the 2015 season, as the meet average went up from 17.7 in March to 20.6 on Saturday in Eloy.

FAI World Cup 2015			Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4	Round 5	Round 6	Round 7	Round 8	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way VFS		F,11,B,14	I,L,3,5	J,E,M,16	A,1,13	C,2,6	17,4,H	D,9,10	G,8,N,15	Total	Avg
1	Transfert	FR	14	11	16	22	18	10	11	16	118	14.8
2	Vertical Flystation	RU	13	15	13	21	8	14	8	12	104	13.0
3	Blue Pelican	NO	13	12	13	14	13	9	11	11	96	12.0
4	Fly Definition	PL	4	10	9	11	10	7	3	6	60	7.5
5	Aerodisaster	IT	5	5	4	14	9	6	4	8	55	6.9
6	UFO	RU	2	5	2	14	7	7	5	8	50	6.3

The performance at the USPA Nationals did not only bring the gold medals back to Chicago. It is also lifting the new US national team straight up into the world's top spot at this point in time.

The scores of the VFS teams at the FAI World Cup 2015, reigning world champion France (Transfert) and Russia (Flystation), were not even close to the 20-average level that Core presented yesterday. Even Arizona Arsenal in 2nd place would still be far ahead of France and Russia. The third VFS medal winner at last year's world meet, Evolution from Canada, is the only open question in the VFS outlook to the Mondial 2016.

The only real VFS battle in Eloy took place between Arizona X Force and the Golden Knights. The new and second home team of Skydive Arizona won the jump-off in Round 8 by two points when both teams were tied after Round 7. The Sun Path Products NSL News had introduced X Force on May 31st.