posted Oct 30th, 2015 - The USPA Nationals 2015 continue to slowly fade out this week. The Golden Knights and Arizona Airspeed continue with their annual battle in 10-way and 16-way for the overall top position in US Formation Skydiving competition, while the Artistic Events have begun and finish off the week in Eloy.

The aftermath of the Sun Path Products NSL News begins with a review of the 8-way Open Class competition and the record performance by the Golden Knights, which included a new world record for a single round with the 32-pointer in Round 1 and a 23.7 average for the 10-round meet.

The story of the 32-pointer has been told many times by now, while the team also deserves additional credit for the 23.7 average. Only one team has ever posted the same number, which were the Golden Knights at last year's USPA Nationals.

USPA Nationals 2015		Rd. 1	Rd. 2	Rd. 3	Rd. 4	Rd. 5	Rd. 6	Rd. 7	Rd. 8	Rd. 9	Rd. 10	Total	Avg
Rank	8-way Open	N,E,D,16	G,F,Q,C,13	8,B,A,3	L,10,1	22,J,K,14	21,9,M	18,O,12	4,7,11	20,19,2	H,6,15	Total	Avg
1	Golden Knights	32	25	22	27	23	21	21	23	17	26	237	23.7
2	Arizona Airspeed	21	18	18	18	17	16	17	19	14	19	177	17.7
3	Qatar Falcons	18	15	13	12	14	11	12	15	10	11	131	13.1
4	Amphibious Attack Tigers	13	14	13	13	12	11	11	10	13	13	123	12.3
5	Perris Moxie	13	13	8	13	8	8	10	11	8	12	104	10.4

It was a different Golden Knights lineup that posted the other 23.7 average at Skydive Chicago in September 2014. Mike Laroche, original member of Brian "BK" Krause's new 8-way team in 2010 and 8-way world champion of 2012 and 2014, attended his last meet for the US Army team, and Drew Starr was still on camera.

He moved into the active lineup for Mike Laroche after the world meet and the USPA Nationals last year. However, it was everything but a smooth transition for the new 8-way member.

Soon after the start into the new season Andrew Starr had to undergo a back surgery, and the training of the new lineup was interrupted for several months. He recovered well until the final countdown to the FAI World Cup 2015 was interrupted by a fatal accident of a Golden Knights demo team member this summer. The whole Golden Knights delegation had to cancel the trip to Teuge, and the training was also held for a while.

The Golden Knights competition teams had permission to jump again early enough for some training before the USPA Nationals. It was obviously enough for Drew Starr and the whole new lineup to get straight back to the highest 8-way level in history.

The Golden Knights delegation will now travel to Dubai, meet the French 8-way team at the Clash of Champions and then win the 8-way gold medals at the World Air Games.

France has the national 8-way team available only for the indoor competition. The team members and the French delegation do not have enough vacation time and the budget for the 8-way competition at the World Air Games. The outdoor showdown will have to wait for another year...