posted Oct 1st, 2017 - Ranch 2nd Generation (R2G) caught the NSL News attention first time when the team won the Paraclete XP Indoor Championship 2016 in the AA/Intermediate Class with impressive scores. The story on 14 March 2016 included a live interview with the same four team members who won the USPA gold medals in the AAA/Advanced Class last week: Michelle Karamon (Inside Center), Christopher Kuhlmann (Outside Center), Joey Marshall (Point), Brenn Richards (Tail).

The same lineup did not even try to win USPA medals in the Intermediate Class in Eloy last year and moved up into the AAA/Advanced Class after the Paraclete indoor meet. Kamuran "Sonic" Bayrasli was then filming the team from his home drop zone to the USPA silver medals in October 2016.

A year later, R2G made the next successful step in the team career and accomplished a mission that has not been copied very often in the history of the USPA Nationals. The same lineup won the Advanced Class gold medals a year after the 2nd place, and less than two years after after taking on the complete FAI/IPC dive pool.

R2G turned the 15.0 average at the USPA Nationals 2016 into a 16.5 last week, after an exciting 4-point battle with guest team Fast4ward XP, who had Jimmy Xu in the lineup, USPA Intermediate Class gold medalist of 2016.

USPA Nationals 2017		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Advanced	O,4,9	G,21,A,H	N,D,J,14	L,16,12	K,19,6	E,2,10	P,11,15	17,3,22	F,7,1	Q,5,M,20	Total	Avg
1	Ranch 2nd Generation	18	20	17	15	16	14	15	14	18	17	164	16.4
2	Fast4ward XP	17	19	19	14	16	15	13	13	19	15	160	16.0
3	AF Storm	17	16	17	14	16	14	12	12	17	17	152	15.2
4	Four Horsemen	17	17	14	14	14	13	11	13	12	17	142	14.2
5	Seattle Swift	15	17	13	13	14	13	14	10	17	15	141	14.1
6	DeOrbit Burn	15	16	16	12	13	11	12	11	15	13	134	13.4
7	CH4	16	14	14	12	12	13	10	12	15	15	133	13.3
8	#Elsinoreishome	15	16	14	13	12	12	11	11	15	13	132	13.2
9	CSC Swift	12	16	15	9	13	12	9	11	15	14	126	12.6
10	Bravo	13	14	14	12	11	12	12	9	14	13	124	12.4
10	AF Blaze	9	16	14	12	13	11	9	12	14	14	124	12.4
12	AZ Defiance	14	13	14	11	12	9	11	8	12	10	114	11.4
13	Perris Event Horizon	14	12	13	9	9	11	9	11	14	11	113	11.3
14	Perris Quattro	17	0	15	11	11	12	9	11	16	10	112	11.2
15	Levity XP	11	11	14	9	11	12	9	8	14	11	110	11.0
16	Perris 4ce	13	11	14	10	8	9	11	7	15	11	109	10.9
17	Perris Dauntless 5	13	10	13	10	10	10	10	10	12	5	103	10.3
18	JetStream Tango	14	11	13	9	10	7	7	9	10	10	100	10.0
19	4ttitude	14	11	13	9	3	6	8	7	12	11	94	9.4
20	Adventure Flyers	14	11	6	9	5	10	9	6	12	10	92	9.2
21	Beauties and the Beasts	9	7	2	5	4	6	7	6	9	7	62	6.2

R2G finished short of the 16.9 Advanced Class record average that SDC Rhythm XP (2008) and SDMW Next (2016) have posted in this category.

Only the ten point deductions kept the team from improving the best Advanced Class average in USPA history and finishing on the same scoring level where NEXT performed this year.

Last year's Advanced Class champion finished with a new team record for a 10-round meet (17.3) in 10th place on the AAA/Open Class leaderboard.

Advanced Class champion R2G made the Top 10 (9th) on the combined AAA Class leaderboard (Open/Advanced) of the U.S. teams, disregarding NMP PCH HayaBusa and ISR FireFlash from Belgium. Guest team Fast4ward XP finished tied with Spaceland Lite in 10th place not counting the Belgian teams.

In fact, the combined leaderboard is loaded with former USPA Advanced Class champion teams, even though most of the lineups have changed.

SDC Rhythm XP, Mass Defiance, Dallas 350, SDMW NEXT, R2G and Spaceland Lite all have USPA Advanced Class gold medals in their collections and now compete in the Open Class.

USPA Nationals 2017			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way AAA/Open/Advanced		O,4,9	G,21,A,H	N,D,J,14	L,16,12	K,19,6	E,2,10	P,11,15	17,3,22	F,7,1	Q,5,M,20	Total	Avg
1	NMP PCH HayaBusa	BE	31	33	28	23	25	23	23	22	31	31	270	27.0
2	Arizona Airspeed	US	27	32	29	22	24	22	21	23	29	29	258	25.8
3	SDC Rhythm XP	US	29	31	28	23	22	20	23	19	28	29	252	25.2
4	Golden Knights	US	24	26	28	22	18	19	20	19	24	23	223	22.3
5	Airspeed Odyssey	US	25	23	27	19	22	19	19	17	23	23	217	21.7
6	Defiance	US	24	24	26	18	19	17	19	16	24	22	209	20.9
7	GKBC	US	24	19	24	15	17	17	18	16	23	20	193	19.3
8	Dallas 350	US	18	23	24	16	16	16	16	11	22	19	181	18.1
9	ISR FireFlash	BE	21	22	19	14	17	16	14	16	20	19	178	17.8
10	SDMW NEXT XP	US	15	25	17	17	15	16	16	15	23	14	173	17.3
11	Ranch 2nd Generation	US	18	20	17	15	16	14	15	14	18	17	164	16.4
12	Spaceland Lite	US	19	22	19	12	17	14	13	8	19	17	160	16.0
12	Fast4ward XP	US	17	19	19	14	16	15	13	13	19	15	160	16.0
14	Phoenix XP	US	16	18	19	13	13	13	14	14	15	17	152	15.2
14	AF Storm	US	17	16	17	14	16	14	12	12	17	17	152	15.2

R2G members Michelle Karamon, Christopher Kuhlmann and Joey Marshall took the time on Saturday to meet with the NSL News for the next NSL Live Talk.

Brenn Richards and videographer Kamuran "Sonic" Bayrasli were not available at the time. R2G's 20-year young tail had to travel back home quickly to prepare for upcoming college exams.

Coach Niklas Hemlin, who had just won his next U.S. 4-way title with Arizona Airspeed, joined the conversation with his R2G insights. He emphasized that he contributed not that much to the team's success and said that R2G is very self-sufficient with team training.

Michelle Karamon, Brenn Richards, Christopher Kuhlmann and Joey Marshall all continued in different 8-way teams after the 4-way competition and before Brenn Richards had to leave.

Michelle Karamon, Christopher Kuhlmann and Joey Marshall also added 16-way and 10-way to their meet week. Michelle Karamon and Christopher Kuhlmann even won more USPA medals, silver with with Airspeed's 16-way lineup and bronze with Rhinoceros Kisses and Dirty Di in 10-way, while Joey Marshall had to sit out with sinus troubles.

The best news of this NSL Live Talk were R2G plans for the future. The same lineup intends to continue in the 4-way Open Class next year...