posted Sep 7th, 2018 - It's time for the U.S. showdown at the USPA Nationals 2018, which is hosted by Chicagoland Skydiving Center this year. The event took place twice on the west coast of the United States in 2016 (Eloy) and 2017 (Perris) and is now moving back to the east coast for two years..

The 4-way VFS competition was over on Friday after only five rounds due to the weather situation, and SDC Core won their next national title without much opposition.

The schedule for the other 4-way events is different this year, compared to the USPA Nationals in the past. The 4-way competition begins with the AA/Intermediate Class, which is now separated from the two other AAA Class categories, 4-way Open and 4-way Advanced.

Round 1 for the Intermediate Class teams is scheduled for Saturday morning, while the Open/Advanced Class teams have their first meet day on Monday.

The AA/Intermediate Class participation is usually the largest one of the event and often doubles the number of teams in 4-way Open and 4-way Advanced together.

USPA Nationals 2017		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Intermediate	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	27	11	13	15	10	13	11	140	14.0
2	Cali4nia Raptors	11	13	11	26	10	11	14	9	12	10	127	12.7
3	CoNEXTion XP	9	13	11	26	12	11	9	9	14	10	124	12.4
4	TSC Cadence	10	11	10	23	11	10	11	10	14	9	119	11.9
5	Dallas InterSpeediate	11	14	11	17	11	8	10	9	12	12	115	11.5
6	Spaceland Toxic	12	11	10	19	11	9	10	8	11	11	112	11.2
6	HADES	10	9	9	25	9	9	10	9	11	11	112	11.2
8	Southern Mix	9	13	8	21	10	8	11	9	10	10	109	10.9
9	Orange Crush	9	10	10	19	9	10	11	8	10	11	107	10.7
10	Platinum 4.0	10	11	9	21	10	10	7	8	9	8	103	10.3

The AA/Intermediate Class event is also very competitive. The Top 10 leaderboard of the USPA Nationals 2017 is showing how many teams were in contention for the three sets of USPA medals, and it will not be much different this year.

Rank	AA/Intermediate Class Power Rankings		Averages	Best
1	SDC Rhevolution XP	Midwest	11.2 - 11.4 - 13.7	13.7
2	TSC Cadence	Carolina	13.6	13.6
3	Spaceland Toxic	Texas	11.5	11.5
4	Platinum XP	Carolina	11.3	11.3
5	Freaks on Couches	Midwest	8.7 - 8.4 - 10.4	10.4
6	JEWL	N. California	10.3	10.3
7	Hands Free	Midwest	10.2	10.2
8	Toxic Heveh	Texas	9.9	9.9
9	Tail Spin XP	Carolina	9.6	9.6
10	Carolina Airspeed	Carolina	9.0	9.0

The NSL Power Rankings feature the AA/Intermediate Class teams that have posted scores at other 4-way events this year. SDC Rhevolution XP of the Midwest Skydiving League and Carolina team TSC Cadence seem to be in for a good battle for the top spot. However, there are other teams that could have stepped up to a similar performance level in the meantime and might join the two top contenders in the race for USPA medals.

TSC Cadence, Spaceland Toxic and Platinum XP were in the Top 10 spots at the USPA Nationals 2017 and are back to win their medals a year later. Hands Free, Toxic Heveh and Tail Spin XP are also back to improve their standings at last year's event. Hands Free had a personnel change and have trained with former SDMW NEXT member Daniele Smythe in the Outside Center slot, Advanced Class champion of 2016.

Top contender TSC Cadence had bad luck in the run-up to the event when inside center Joshua Lukes injured his shoulder. However, he tested his ability to compete with the help of braces on Friday and seems to be ready for action. The competition draw is scheduled for Friday evening.