posted Jun 24th, 2018 - Ranch 2nd Generation (R2G) has been the 4-way shooting star in the United States since the team was formed in 2015 and became very competitive with a new lineup for the 2016 season.

The NSL News has followed the progression of the young team since the Paraclete XP Indoor Championship 2016 where the story began with a live interview after the 1st place in the AA/Intermediate Class.

R2G continued with training of the complete FAI/IPC dive pool and completed the 2016 season with AAA/Advanced Class silver medals at the USPA Nationals, 19 points behind SDMW NEXT (169 - 150).

The silver medals of 2016 were replaced by gold in 2017 (16.4) and R2G made new plans for the 2018 season in the AAA/Open Class competition at the national championships.

R2G fans know that there was a lineup change at the end of the 2017 season, as the NSL News reported on 1 December 2017.

Paraclete XP Summer Classic 2018			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	AAA/Open/Advanced Class		F,M,C,10		14,P,A,15		19,11,9		E,B,22,7		2,K,G,12		3,O,1		4,17,J		Q,13,D,6		N,L,8,18		16,21,20		Total	Avg
1	Arizona Airspeed	US	35		25	-1	24		27	-2	25		23	-1	25	-1	26		23		21		254	25.4
2	Ranch 2nd Generation	US	23	-1	16	-2	19		20	-1	18		19		19		19		20		17		190	19.0
3	Savage XP	US	24		17		18		20		14		16		16		17		16		15		173	17.3
4	Vega XP	US	19		13		15		14		13		11		9		12	-1	12		11		129	12.9
5	Adventure Flyers	PY	18		13		12		12		11	-1	12		12		11		-		-		101	12.6

Former SDMW NEXT tail Chris Haslam replaced Brenn Richards in the same slot. Brenn Richards had decided to focus on her college education, and SDMW NEXT had no plans to continue in 2018 after competing in the AAA/Open Class at the USPA Nationals 2017.

The new lineup attended two indoor meets, first the SV Hew Hampshire Indoor Championship in January, followed by the Paraclete XP Indoor Championship at the end of February. R2G posted new indoor team record averages at both events, and the Paraclete XP Summer Classic 2018 was the team's first outdoor competition of the year.

The 10-round meet at Skydive Paraclete was also the first outdoor competition for the new lineup, and the previous 2018 outdoor training had not been favored by the weather at the home drop zone, the Blue Sky Ranch in New York State.

In fact, the two scheduled training weekends after the early winter/spring camp in Eloy were completely weathered out. R2G had completed a total of approx. 160 jumps before Round 1 at the Paraclete XP Summer Classic.

Especially the new rear piece needed air time to find the R2G style, while the front piece was unchanged. Additional 14 hours of tunnel time were helpful for this purpose. However, exits and the first sub-terminal page cannot be trained in a wind tunnel chamber, even though this is the most important part of a 4-way competition round.

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

The new R2G lineup was still ready for a very impressive performance at the first outdoor meet, as the 19.0 average is showing. It is a significant increase of the previous outdoor team record average (16.5) which was posted at last year's Paraclete XP Summer Classic.

Coach Niklas Hemlin and team speaker Michelle Karamon were both happy with the R2G performance in Raeford, as they confirmed during the NSL Live Talk on 22 June 2018. The NSL News mentioned earlier that a 20+ average this year would not be a big surprise, and the 19.0 average four months before the USPA Nationals 2018 is well on track to the new benchmark and team goal.

A 20+ average would seriously challenge the unofficial amateur record average in the United States and in the world. DNR (20.7) and Mass Defiance (20.9) are the only U.S. amateur teams with meet averages above the 20-average level. The 2017 Defiance lineup (Nick Grillet, James Klinge, Ben Liston, Brian Stephens, Patrick Walker on camera) placed 6th at the USPA Nationals 2017 with a 20.9 average.

R2G's first USPA Nationals in the 4-way Open Class will definitely produce a new record number for a reigning USPA Advanced Class champion at the first national championship in this category. The only question mark is behind the number...