posted Jan 22nd, 2018 - There were more interesting team relationships at the SV New Hampshire Indoor 2018, not only the one between R2G and Spaceland Lite.

One of the other ones created not only a tie in the final standings but also an extra round for the bronze medals.

Schweddy Balls and aiRWorthy finished together in 10th place of the A Class competition and did not have to fly again. The situation was different in the AAA Class, where Defiance and Nik's Angels shared the bronze medal position after Round 10.

Both teams also had very interesting lineups. Arizona Airspeed's inside center Niklas Hemlin was player coaching his three Angels, Matt Hunt, Ian Pedowitz and Jimmy Xu. It was not his first visit at SkyVenture New Hampshire.

He had competed with Fallout from the Ranch at the 2016 event. Fallout member Kim Hollander joined Spaceland Lite at the end of the 2016 season and now left her 2016 player coach easily behind with her new team.

SVNH Indoor 2018		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	3,F,E,14	16,N,9	K,17,J,L	10,P,6	G,D,C,5	7,21,B	M,O,22,9	18,A,Q,H	H,7,15	14,M,,O,20	J,21,K,G	Total	Avg
1	R2G	21	24	32	22	30	28	23	24	27	23	-	254	25.4
2	Spaceland Lite	21	19	29	17	27	23	23	19	19	16	-	213	21.3
3	Nik’s Angels	19	20	23	16	21	21	18	18	20	17	22	193	19.3
4	Defiance	19	21	18	16	21	22	21	18	19	18	19	193	19.3
5	#Chipmunks	15	18	15	13	14	16	15	12	15	18	-	151	15.1
6	Fly Girls	11	12	14	13	16	18	15	12	16	14	-	141	14.1
7	Fabio’s Angels	12	13	12	8	16	13	15	5	15	10	-	119	11.9

Niklas Hemlin was facing the same Scuba Defiance lineup that competed last year at the same event. Three original Mass Defiance members (Ben Liston, Brian Stephens, John Silva) had to fill the 4th slot once again, as Jim Rees served as the Chief Judge for his team mate, meet organizer Ben Liston.

The 4th Defiance member was in the original lineup, as well. Steve "Scuba" Feldman was filming Mass Defiance for several years and won his own USPA Advanced Class gold medal with the team in 2005.

Patrick Walker was filming Mass Defiance when three other members of the original lineup (Ben Liston, Brian Stephens, Jim Rees) competed with James “Bu” Klinge at the FAI World Cup 2017 in Saarlouis. Steve Feldman has been filling the slots for Jim Rees at the two indoor meets.

Meet organizer Ben Liston won his own event with different Defiance lineups before DeLand ShmeLand came to New Hampshire in 2010 and took AAA Class command until 2015.

He took back the top spot with a different Defiance lineup (Nick Grillet, John Silva, Brian Stephens) in 2016 and lost it again to Ranch 2nd Generation last year.

It will be difficult for Ben Liston to win again in the future if R2G is coming back to defend the top spot in the coming years.

Even the original Mass Defiance lineup will be extremely challenged to keep up with the new event champions. Saturday's 25.4 average was the highest AAA Class result in the history of the event, and R2G is probably not stopping there.

As last year, Scuba Defiance was battling for the bronze medals last Saturday, as Spaceland Lite was out of reach, as well. The home team with meet director Ben Liston scored significantly higher this year (18.0 - 19.2) and was still only tied in 3rd place after Round 10. Niklas Hemlin and his three Angels had forced Suba Defiance into an extra round.

Airspeed member Niklas Hemlin is highly experienced with meet pressure, and he even just recently went through an extra round with his own team.

Arizona Airspeed and Black Cat were tied after Round 10 at the FAI Indoor World Meet 2017 and had to fly again for the bronze medals. Airspeed won by one single point (59 - 58) and posted a new indoor world record for a single round.

Niklas Hemlin was back in the same situation with an extra round for the 3rd place in New Hampshire. He must have had good advice for his three Angels who finished with a solid performance after a minor flaw. Scuba Defiance struggled with the sequence and ended up three points behind in Round 11 and in 4th place.