posted Sep 11th, 2018 - All traditional 4-way events at the USPA Nationals 2018 were successfully and timely completed on Tuesday, after all scheduled ten rounds for all teams in 4-way Intermediate (AA), 4-way Advanced (AAA) and 4-way Open (AAA).

Only the 4-way VFS teams did not get their ten rounds. The weather situation during last week's events was not in favor of the Artistic Events, Mixed Formation Skydiving (MFS) and Vertical Formation Skydiving (VFS), which opened the 2018 USPA National Skydiving Championships of Artist Events, Formation Skydiving, Speed Skydiving and Wingsuit Flying.

The weather turned to the better when it was time for the 4-way AA/Intermediate Class competition, and 32 teams completed the first two rounds on Saturday. This event was completed on Sunday when beautiful Illinois fall weather replaced rain, wind and grey skies and allowed the completion of the remaining eight rounds.

It became even better when the AAA Class teams (Open/Advanced) launched their competition on Monday and did their first seven rounds, even though the Intermediate Class leaderboard was not complete by then. There was still a jump-off for the bronze medals to come.

The meet still continued with the competition draw for the Open/Advanced Class event on Sunday evening, and the NSL-TV camera recorded the first engineering work of the teams shortly after the ten rounds were handed out to the 33 teams in the two AAA categories.

The extra round for Cali4nia Kids and Hands Free, who were tied for the USPA bronze medals after Round 10, was scheduled for Monday morning, and the NSL News followed the teams on their way to and after Round 11.

Meet Director Jimmy Hayhurst opened the tie-breaking procedure with a reminder of the rules and procedures before assigning the exit order for the two teams in a special way, as the new NSL-TV video clip is showing. Cali4nia Kids would exit the Twin Otter first, followed by Hands Free.

The NSL News covered the dramatic battle for the Intermediate Class gold medals on yesterday, which did not even include guest team SDC Rhevolution who finished one single point behind winner TSC Cadence. However, the Intermediate Class competition also offered the exciting race for the bronze medals.

USPA Nationals 2018		1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		11		Total	Avg
Rank	Intermediate Class	15,7		A,E,Q,M		11,9		1,22		J,P,F,8		2,20		13,O,K		B,D,6		4,G,14		21,N,19		C,L,H,18		Total	Avg
1	TSC Cadence	11		23		14		10		19		11		13		17		8	-3	12		-		138	13.8
G	SDC Rhevolution XP	13		22		11		11		15	-3	12		14		16	-1	12		11		-		137	13.7
2	SDMW X	10	-1	26		12	-1	9		20		11		11		13		11		9		-		132	13.2
3	Hands Free	11		22	-2	13		11		16		6	-3	9		13	-1	10	-1	11		14		122	12.2
4	Cali4nia Kids	11		21		9		10		15	-1	11		10		14		11		10		12	-2	122	12.2
5	Platinum XP	10		20		12		9		14	-1	9	-1	10		15		10		10		-		119	11.9
6	The Mostly Asians	9	-1	17	-1	12		9		13		10		10		15		10		9		-		114	11.4
7	Carolina Ice XP	9		18		12		8	-1	13		9		9		15		9		11		-		113	11.3
8	Spaceland Toxic	9		19		9		8	-1	14		10		7	-2	13		8	-1	9		-		106	10.6
9	TSC Off Cadence	9		14		10		9		13		10		7	-2	10	-1	7	-1	8		-		97	9.7

The battle between Cali4nia Kids and Hands Free began with a tied meet opener before two very different parts followed. Hands Free dominated the following four rounds and had created a 7-point lead after Round 5 before this run was stopped by three point deductions due to a bad video angle in Round 6.

Cali4nia Kids won their own four consecutive rounds beginning in Round 6 and had turned the 7-point deficit into a 1-point lead after Round 9. It seemed like the west coast team had the momentum.

However, Hands Free had eventually recovered, tied the game in Round 10 and forced Cali4nia Kids into the extra round for the bronze medals.

Both teams were back where they started, when it was time for the extra round, and again they tied the number of completed formations within working time.

This time, Cali4nia Kids had the bad luck with the video angle and lost the first two points, while Hands Free had their completed 14 points confirmed by the judges.