posted Jul 18th, 2018 - The Spaceland-Houston Pre-Nationals 2018 also included an 8-way competition that the French 8-way Team, organized by Louis French and player-coached by Kirk Verner, won last year. The French 8-way team moved on to win the USPA gold medals in the 8-way Advanced Class a few months later in Perris.

Last weekend, Spaceland Lite's 8-way lineup won the same event at Spaceland-Houston, and the team might be on the same road to USPA gold medals as the French 8-way team was. The French 8-way team won the USPA Nationals with a 9.5 average last year, and Spaceland Lite finished with an 8.5 average after last weekend's six 8-way rounds.

Spaceland Lite 8 missed the Advanced Class bronze medals last year in Perris by 11 points in 4th place. The teams in 2nd and 3rd place won their USPA medals with 8.2 and 8.5 averages.

The lineup has changed, and one 8-way Advanced Class champion of 2017 (LJ Wobker) will try to defend the title with his new 8-way team, Spaceland Lite. Karen Bilder, Kim Hollander, Katrina Shows, Christy West, Rita Sandt, Dave Grabowski, Devon Shows and videographer Cory Kossan are back to turn the 4th place into a medal position.

Spaceland-Houston Pre-Nationals 2018		1		2		3		4		5		6		Total	Avg
Rank	8-way Open	N,F,19,C		12,10,11		B,M,6,15		7,K,G,O		9,D,A,H		2,22,Q		Total	Avg
1	Spaceland Lite	11		7		9		9		7		8		51	8.5
2	Wherespeed	8		6	-1	6		7		6		5	-1	38	6.3
Rank	8-way Intermediate	E,14,A		J,16,4		L,8,O		7,F,K		P,13,N		N,18,C		Total	Avg
1	Gravit8	2	-1	0	-1	1	-1	3		3		0		9	1.5

Spaceland Lite's situation in 8-way resembles what lies ahead for a few 4-way teams from Texas. The NSL News mentioned in yesterday's update from the same event that Spaceland Toxic will also try to turn last year's 6th place in the AA/Intermediate Class at the USPA Nationals into a medal position.

It is not only Spaceland Toxic traveling to Chicagoland Skydiving in September with this goal. Dallas InterSpeediate finished in 5th place, right ahead of Spaceland Toxic, in Perris last year. The same team name did not appear on last weekend's AA Class leaderboard; however, Dallas InterSpeediate is alive and once again in good shape.

The same team decided to compete in the combined AAA/Advanced/Open Class competition at the Pre-Nationals last weekend and win some of the prize money. Dallas InterSpeediate entered the different category with a different team name, and Get Schwifty finished with a 9.0 average behind Dallas 350ish.

USPA Nationals 2017		1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	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

Get Schwifty/Dallas InterSpeediate will move back into the AA/Intermediate Class competition at the USPA Nationals and join Spaceland Toxic in the pursuit of USPA medals.

This creates a very interesting situation in the AA/Intermediate Class competition. Last year's three USPA medal winners already have AAA Class scores of 2018 in their records and seem to get ready for the Advanced Class competition at the USPA Nationals 2018.

The three teams behind the 2017 medal positions are all back and have posted scores that promise a position in medal contention in September. TSC Cadence have almost arrived at last year's gold medal level (14.0 - 13.6) and seem to be the top contender for the USPA Nationals 2018.

Dallas InterSpeediate, morphed into Get Schwifty, has only the 9.0 average after eight rounds with the AAA Class draw in the 2018 records. However, the Dallas Super Cup is still coming up before the final showdown at the USPA Nationals and may present the latest and new scoring numbers...