posted Dec 7th, 2016 - The Sun Path Products NSL News gave the Advanced Class winner of the USPA Nationals 2016, Skydive Midwest NEXT, the deserved attention with the story on November 3rd.

The same story also briefly mentioned the team in 2nd place, Ranch 2nd Generation, who had their own full coverage on March 14th, after winning the AA/Intermediate Class competition at the Paraclete XP Indoor Championship 2016.

NEXT dominated USPA's Advanced Class competition so clearly that only the silver and bronze medals were available for the other teams. However, the race for these medals was just as exciting as the NEXT performance. Three teams battled for the two sets of medals behind NEXT and finished within four points after ten rounds.

USPA Nationals 2016		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
R.	Advanced Class	20,D,E,22	M,9,5	12,8,7	H,L,16,15	F,A,N,J,17	G,6,3	K,B,Q,P,C	18,10,11	13,21,4	14,1,19	Total	Avg
1	Skydive Midwest NEXT	16	21	12	13	26	16	31	11	14	9	169	16.9
2	Ranch 2nd Generation	13	17	13	15	20	14	24	11	13	10	150	15.0
3	AF Bachelor Party	13	19	13	15	18	14	20	11	12	12	147	14.7
4	CSC Survival Instinct	12	20	11	14	23	13	23	11	7	12	146	14.6
5	AZ Defiance	13	18	12	14	18	13	22	9	12	11	142	14.2
6	AF Obsidian	13	18	11	12	18	14	21	9	10	10	136	13.6
7	Four Horseman	11	15	13	15	19	11	19	7	13	11	134	13.4
7	CSC Swift	12	16	10	14	20	12	21	8	11	10	134	13.4
9	DeOrbit Burn	12	16	11	13	16	11	20	8	10	10	127	12.7
10	Perris Event Horizon	11	15	11	13	17	12	20	10	10	6	125	12.5
11	Fabio's Angels	11	16	10	12	16	12	15	7	10	10	119	11.9
12	Surge	11	15	9	10	16	10	17	8	9	9	114	11.4
13	Southern Mix XP	11	16	8	10	15	12	16	7	9	9	113	11.3
14	Synthesis	11	12	8	12	15	10	17	7	7	10	109	10.9
15	Perris Quattro	12	9	10	7	17	9	19	7	9	9	108	10.8
16	Perris Flight SP	10	13	9	10	11	12	18	9	8	7	107	10.7
17	Quatre Francais Invite	10	14	9	8	13	9	17	8	9	9	106	10.6
18	Perris Dauntless Five	10	14	9	11	16	9	11	8	8	8	104	10.4
19	Nimbus	11	14	8	10	15	9	14	8	4	6	99	9.9
20	Dallas Momentum	6	13	9	10	14	10	16	7	7	5	97	9.7
21	Dallas Disturbio	10	10	9	7	14	9	14	8	6	9	96	9.6
22	SDC Jetstream Tango	7	14	9	6	10	10	12	8	9	9	94	9.4
23	Elsinore Vortex	10	12	8	10	11	8	13	6	6	6	90	9.0
24	Dallas Disturbed	8	13	9	7	11	7	11	7	8	6	87	8.7
25	Deland Momentum	9	11	7	6	13	7	7	7	6	5	78	7.8

It's no news that the Air Force Academy generates very competitive 4-way teams, who are well trained and well supported. Coach Andy Honigbaum, former Arizona Airspeed member, has added several sets of USPA medals to the AFA collection after taking over the coaching job from Bill "Coach" Wenger. Andy Honigbaum won USPA Advanced Class gold medals and Intermediate bronze last year and had to settle for bronze and 5th place in the Advanced Class 2016.

The Air Force team had the 2nd place for the first four rounds and was still tied with 2nd Generation after six rounds. The young team from the Blue Sky Ranch in New York also had a second contender in this battle. CSC Survival Instinct was even tougher opposition than the Air Force team until Round 8.

It was the second visit to national championships for three 2nd Generation team members and videographer Kamuran "Sonic" Bayrasli. They had finished in 16th place at the USPA Nationals 2015 with a 9.1 average, which was the first 4-way competition for the team.

Paraclete XP Indoor 2016		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	AA Class	P,13,G	7,19	9,O,B	C,A,N,6	18,11	K,2,21	22,8	E,L,J,20	4,1	15,M,F	Total	Avg
1	2nd Generation	19	19	30	22	13	17	15	25	17	28	205	20.5
2	Nimbus	14	17	26	19	12	14	13	19	15	21	170	17.0
3	Exit Strategy XP	13	14	26	19	11	13	14	20	13	23	166	16.6
4	Texas Crush	16	16	25	20	11	15	11	18	12	19	163	16.3
5	Mortal Enemies	9	14	24	18	11	12	11	15	12	14	140	14.0

They came back this year in the A Class with a different lineup and won at SkyVenture New Hampshire's annual indoor competition, then did the same in the AA/Intermediate Class at the Paraclete XP Indoor Championship 2016.

Outdoor training for the 2016 season began at the Ranch, and the community of AA/Intermediate Class teams in the U.S.A. was wondering if 2nd Generation would compete in the same category at the USPA Nationals 2016. In that case, the gold medals would probably be as much out of reach for other teams as they were in the Advanced Class behind NEXT.

2nd Generation was not sure whether the team would be ready for the complete FAI Open Class dive pool with slot switchers and memory, while they were training the AAA Class blocks throughout the 2016 summer. They completed only 80 jumps after the AA/Intermediate Class competition at Paraclete.

However, together with coach Niklas Hemlin they eventually decided in August to move up and see how far they could come in the Advanced Class, which had the strongest participation this year with 25 teams.

The limited number of outdoor training jumps did not allow the team to launch all complete exits. In fact, and as the meet video shows, 2nd Generation used only the Bow (H) for exits to be on the safe side. It worked out well with a very consistent performance and the Advanced Class silver medals.

The latest update from the Ranch might not be the best one for Advanced Class teams in 2017. 2nd Generation is making plans for next year and will come back with the same lineup and hopefully more training jumps. Michelle Karamon said that her team just has too much fun and great group dynamics. That's more than enough reason to continue...