posted Apr 27th, 2018 - Former Spaceland Lite member Christy West and former Dallas 350 member Scott Latinis are once again organizing Skydive Spaceland-Houston's Pre-Nationals 2018, which is scheduled for the July 13 weekend.

They launched the event last year to offer teams from Texas an opportunity for competition practice before the USPA Nationals. Registration was open for all guest teams already last year, and Christy West and Scott Latinis welcome all teams who are interested in a serious competition before this year's national championships, as well.

The field of teams for the 2018 event will have an Open Class quality, as Arizona Airspeed and Dallas 350 have confirmed early their participation. Christy West and Scott Spaceland-Houston Pre-NationalsLatinis expect other additional Open Class teams to sign up soon.

The inaugural event last year had the main competition in the AA/Intermediate Class, where four teams attended, and three of them had a good 8-round battle that prepared them well for the situation at the USPA Nationals. AAA Class team Christy's Love Slaves did not compete later in Perris, while The French 8-way Team won USPA gold medals in the 8-way Advanced Class category.

Spaceland-Houston Pre-Nationals 2017		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	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	AA Class	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	13	9	14	5	9	9	9	76	9.5
4	B.A.D.D.	2	2	3	1	1	1	2	2	14	1.8

The three AA/Intermediate Class teams from Texas had their internal rankings figured out after the Spaceland-Houston Pre-Nationals 2017. It turned out be exactly the same a month later in Perris.

The distance between the same three teams at the USPA Nationals was slightly more, as they completed ten rounds in Perris, compared to the 8-round meet at Spaceland-Houston.

Dallas InterSpeediate increased the team's meet average more significantly than the other two Texas teams in the month of time between the Pre-Nationals and the USPA competition and were almost in striking distance for medals with the 11.5 average.

InterSpeediate and BOOBS both had also competed at the Dallas Super Cup after the meet at Spaceland-Houston. InterSpeediate added another few points before peaking at the USPA Nationals (10.3 - 11.0 - 11.5) while BOOBS copied their 10.0 average. Spaceland Toxic Heveh also copied their 9.5 average of the Pre-Nationals later in Perris.

USPA Nationals 2017		1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	AA/Intermediate Class	D,20,E		A,B,4		C,2,11		L,J,F,M		18,N,7		1,O,19		H,P,15		14,G,21		Q,8,K		9,22		Total	Avg
1	Vega XP	14		15		11	-1	27		11		13		15		10		13	-1	11		140	14.0
2	Cali4nia Raptors	11		13	-1	11		26		10		11		14		9	-1	12		10	-1	127	12.7
3	CoNEXTion XP	9	-1	13	-1	11		26	-4	12		11		9	-4	9		14		10		124	12.4
4	TSC Cadence	10	-1	11	-2	10	-1	23	-2	11		10		11	-1	10		14		9	-2	119	11.9
5	Dallas InterSpeediate	11	-1	14	-1	11	-1	17	-3	11		8	-1	10		9		12		12		115	11.5
6	Spaceland Toxic	12		11	-1	10		19	-1	11		9		10	-1	8		11	-1	11		112	11.2
6	HADES	10	-1	9	-2	9		25		9		9		10	-2	9		11	-1	11		112	11.2
8	Southern Mix	9	-1	13		8	-2	21	-2	10		8	-1	11		9		10	-2	10		109	10.9
9	Orange Crush	9	-1	10	-1	10		19		9	-1	10		11		8		10		11		107	10.7
10	Platinum 4.0	10		11		9		21		10		10		7	-3	8		9	-1	8	-2	103	10.3
11	Zhills ZEUS	9		10		8		18		10		10		11		8		8		9		101	10.1
12	Babes on our Bellies (BOOBs)	9	-1	12		9	-2	17	-1	9		9		8	-2	8		9	-1	10		100	10.0
13	4GetAboutit	10		8	-3	9		17	-1	10		9		9	-3	9		8	-2	10		99	9.9
14	Spaceland Special Reserve	8		12		8		20		8		9		9		8		6	-1	10		98	9.8
15	Spaceland Toxic Heveh	9		9		9		19		9		7		10		7		8		8		95	9.5
16	Tailspin	10		11		9		14	-3	10		9		11	-1	6		6	-1	7	-1	93	9.3
17	SDC Connect 4	10		10	-1	8	-1	14		9		8		7		6		10		8		90	9.0
18	Brazucas	7	-1	11		8	-1	19		8		6	-2	6	-1	6		9	-1	8		88	8.8
19	Hard on the Kittens	6		10		8		14		10		8		9	-1	6		6		8		85	8.5
20	Carolina Ice	8	-1	9		6		13		7		9		9	-2	6		6		9		82	8.2
21	Hands Full	8		7	-2	8		12	-1	9		6		7	-2	7		9		7	-1	80	8.0
22	Squid Squad	8		9	-1	5		16	-1	7		8		7	-1	6		6		6	-1	78	7.8
22	Masha and the Bears	7		11		5	-1	14		6		6	-1	7		5		9		8		78	7.8
24	Mid-Air Collusion	7		7		8		14		9		5	-1	6	-1	6		6		7		75	7.5
24	4Tune	9	-1	8	-3	5	-2	16	-1	3	-3	6		8	-2	6		7	-1	7		75	7.5
26	Lady and the Tramps	5	-3	9		5	-1	13		7		4	-1	8		7		7		7	-1	72	7.2
27	SDC Rhelativity	4	-1	8		5	-2	10	-4	7		9		6	-2	7		8		6	-1	70	7.0
27	Perris Feathers	7		9		7		10	-2	8		6		4	-3	5		7		7		70	7.0
29	Perris Fource Majeure	7		4		5	-2	12	-1	6		6		6	-2	6		5	-1	8		65	6.5
30	The Elusive 4	6		7		6		9		6		4		8		5	-1	6		7		64	6.4
31	4getTunnel	4	-2	0		7		14		6		5	-1	4	-3	5		7		7		59	5.9
32	Force of Nature	6	-1	8		6		11	-1	6		4	-1	7		4		1	-4	5	-1	58	5.8
33	San Diego Action Figures	6		5	-1	3	-2	8		4	-2	6		6	-1	5		4	-2	6		53	5.3
33	Perris Fourmation	5	-1	8		3	-1	7	-3	6		4		7		3		6	-1	4	-2	53	5.3
35	Easily Amused	4		6		3		1		2		5		2		2		4		3	-1	32	3.2
36	Epic Flail	0		5		3	-1	7		4		1		0	-3	3		2	-2	4		29	2.9
37	Win Or Lose We Booze	3	-1	3	-1	3		4		1		1	-1	1	-2	2		3		0	-1	21	2.1

The 2018 event brings money into the Pre-Nationals game at Spaceland-Houston. The Open Class winner will take $2,500 and Arizona Airspeed may not have much competition after Doug Barron's recent injury and SDC Rhythm's situation after it.

$1,250 are on stake for the 2nd place in 4-way Open, the same amount for the 1st place in 4-way Advanced. The runner-up in this category still wins $625.

The 8-way competition has an even higher jackpot of $10,125 total, $4,500 for the winner of the 8-way Open Class and $2,250 for the 2nd place. The Advanced Class 8-way teams win $2,250 for the 1st and $1,125 for the 2nd place. Skydive Spaceland-Houston offers a total of $15,750 prize money for this year's event.

There is once again the AA/Intermediate Class competition in 4-way and 8-way, as well, without prize money in these categories though. Christy West and Scott Latinis have also added Mixed and Vertical Formation Skydivingto the event. Omniskore!HD will be the judging system and Jim Rees the Chief Judge.