posted Aug 20th, 2017 - The Pre-Nationals 2017 at Skydive Spaceland-Houston were successfully completed after eight rounds in all events.

The teams now have five weeks until Round 1 at the USPA Nationals 2017 to fine-tune any areas of the 4-way and 8-way repertoire that has shown room for improvement this weekend.

The event in Texas was the first completed one of several that took place this weekend, including the UK Nationals 2017. The 4-way teams at Skydive Spaceland-Houston will be able to compare their scores later only with other US teams, as the British national championships had a separate and different competition draw.

The 8-way teams in Texas were on their own, as well, with hardly any 8-way meets available for training opportunities at all. However, The French 8-way Team was not new to 8-way competition and had the opportunity to compare their own new 2017 scores with the ones on another earlier leaderboard.

It was, in fact, the USPA Nationals 2016 where Kirk Verner guided The French 8-way team through the first ten competition rounds with a similar lineup.

Spaceland Pre-Nationals 2017		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Total	Avg
Rank	8-way	7,K,21	12,17,8	Q,9,D,P	11,E,C,J	F,4,O,B	6,G,H,13	20,M,22	3,N,1	Total	Avg
1	French 8-way Team	14	9	11	16	9	9	7	13	88	11.0
2	Medal Detectors	8	7	7	9	7	6	5	10	59	7.4
Rank	4-way AAA	7,K,21	12,17,8	Q,9,D,P	11,E,C,J	F,4,O,B	6,G,H,13	20,M,22	3,N,1	Total	Avg
1	Christy's Love Slaves	10	7	17	12	15	15	10	9	95	11.9
Rank	4-way AA	F,20,4	7,M,D	9,G,N	O,J,E,Q	H,8,13	C,11,18	21,19	A,14,1	Total	Avg
1	Dallas InterSpeediate	8	13	11	15	10	9	8	8	82	10.3
2	Babes on our Bellies (BOOBs)	7	12	10	16	9	8	8	8	78	9.8
3	Spaceland Toxic Heveh	8	3	9	14	5	9	9	9	66	8.3
4	B.A.D.D.	2	2	3	1	1	1	2	2	14	1.8

The French 8-way Team won the USPA bronze medals in the 8-way Advanced Class with an 8.8 average a year ago, and the 11.0 average this weekend at Skydive Spaceland-Houston is not only a significant increase of the scoring level.

Last year's 8-way Advanced Class winner, Sugar Free Haribo Gummi Bears, had posted a 10.7 average to win the USPA gold medals in Eloy. The French 8-way Team has obviously great chances to turn last year's bronze medals into gold in Perris next month.

The Sugar Free Haribo Gummy Bears will not be able to defend their gold medals, as they have to move up into the 8-way Open Class after winning last year. The team had also competed at the Paraclete XP Indoor Championship 2017 and posted a 16.3 indoor average. The French 8-way Team could have been facing serious opposition with the defending champion in the same category.

Spaceland Lite's 8-way team competed at Paraclete in February (15.0) and might become the main challenger after finishing only six points behind the French 8-way team last year. USPA 8-way Open Class medals will probably be far out of reach for the Advanced Class champion of 2016, the Sugar Free Haribo Gummy Bears...

USPA Nationals 2016		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	8-way Advanced	D,21,C,22	2,4,A	16,5,E	F,7,M,13	11,P,18	3,1,L	H,Q,O,17	6,8,14	10,12,15	N,20,G,9	Total	Avg
1	Sugar Free Haribo Gummi Bears	9	9	13	11	12	11	11	9	10	12	107	10.7
2	Perris Kisses	8	7	10	8	9	14	8	9	9	9	91	9.1
3	The French 8-Way Team	7	9	9	10	9	9	10	8	7	10	88	8.8
4	Spaceland Lite	6	9	9	4	7	12	9	8	8	10	82	8.2
5	Blocksmiths XP	4	3	5	7	8	9	7	6	6	7	62	6.2
6	Dallas Disturbance	4	4	8	6	5	8	3	7	5	6	56	5.6