posted Sep 19th, 2018 - The Advanced Class competition at the USPA Nationals 2018 had the most exciting part behind the winner, Savage XP, as the NSL News reported yesterday.

Savage XP won the USPA gold medals in this category with a 26-point winning margin and allowed no other Advanced Class team to score higher in any of the ten rounds. Only Seattle Swift (1) and Elsinore Elevate (3) managed to keep up with the winner and tie the Savage XP scores in four rounds.

The winning average of 17.4 is the highest one that has been posted in the history of USPA's Advanced Class competition. SDC Rhythm XP (2008) and SDMW NEXT (2016) together held the previous record average (16.9) in this category before Savage XP moved it up above the 17-average level at Chicagoland.

Savage XP was also very competitive on the Open Class leaderboard. Open and Advanced Class teams use the same competition draw for all ten rounds, and the combined leaderboard is showing the Advanced Class winner in 6th place behind Ranch 2nd Generation. SDC Rhythm XP did not make the Top 10 in the Advanced Class of 2008 with a 16.9 average, and NEXT finished in 7th place on the combined leaderboard of 2016. Savage XP's 6th place is also the highest ranking of an Advanced Class winner on the combined leaderboard.

USPA Nationals 2018		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open/Advanced Combined	J,19,K,22	P,13,A,E	H,G,Q,B,21	9,2,L	C,14,4	O,16,3	1,15,10	M,20,11	F,D,18,6	5,12,17	Total	Avg
1	Arizona Airspeed	23	29	34	28	23	24	19	24	26	25	255	25.5
2	SDC Rhythm XP	20	25	33	26	20	18	17	21	23	20	223	22.3
3	Airspeed Odyssey	20	25	28	22	18	20	17	19	20	17	206	20.6
4	Defiance	19	23	25	21	18	21	15	21	21	19	203	20.3
5	Ranch 2nd Generation	17	22	20	22	17	18	15	17	21	19	188	18.8
6	Savage XP	18	17	24	17	14	17	14	18	20	15	174	17.4
7	Spaceland Lite	15	19	24	19	16	18	12	17	17	14	171	17.1
8	Phoenix XP	17	17	21	18	13	17	12	16	16	14	161	16.1
9	Seattle Swift	16	15	18	12	13	16	12	18	15	13	148	14.8
10	Elsinore Elevate	14	17	19	17	13	14	10	14	14	15	147	14.7
11	Perris Force	12	11	21	17	13	13	12	17	14	14	144	14.4
12	Spaceland Dallas 350	17	0	17	17	13	16	13	14	20	16	143	14.3
13	AZ Alpha	14	11	20	16	13	16	11	12	15	13	141	14.1
14	CSC Some Senseless Tragedy	14	14	18	15	11	12	10	13	14	13	134	13.4
15	Nexus CK	14	12	16	16	11	15	12	13	13	11	133	13.3
16	Perris Quattro	12	16	19	14	12	13	8	14	13	11	132	13.2
17	Vega XP	14	12	17	12	12	13	10	14	14	13	131	13.1
18	SDC Rhesilience	14	10	16	13	11	14	9	13	15	12	127	12.7
19	Fearview Mirrors	11	12	15	13	12	14	10	13	12	11	123	12.3
19	AF Skyfall	11	12	16	13	12	13	10	12	14	10	123	12.3
21	Victorious Secret	11	13	16	12	10	9	9	12	13	10	115	11.5
22	SCZ ZEUS	11	13	13	13	10	11	7	12	12	9	111	11.1
23	Perris Praxis	11	12	15	13	9	12	8	11	10	9	110	11.0
24	Levity-O	11	12	16	11	9	12	9	8	12	9	109	10.9
25	Jen and the 4 Aliens	10	12	13	11	10	12	8	11	11	9	107	10.7
26	Fast Break	10	9	13	11	9	9	7	10	9	9	96	9.6
27	SNE Fly Girls	8	8	10	12	9	11	9	9	8	8	92	9.2
27	Perris Section 4	10	7	10	9	8	11	8	11	10	8	92	9.2
29	North Force 4-Way team	8	10	14	8	7	10	7	10	10	6	90	9.0
29	4 the Love of Dogs	8	9	11	10	8	9	8	9	10	8	90	9.0
31	Renegades	9	9	11	11	8	8	8	9	9	7	89	8.9
32	Spaceland Heatwave	9	11	11	6	6	9	7	7	9	9	84	8.4
33	SDC Jetstream Tango	6	4	10	8	9	7	5	9	9	9	76	7.6

The Advanced and Open Class teams are always competing together at the USPA Nationals, even though they have separate leaderboards and jump orders. Only the Intermediate Class teams had their own three days this year. The Open/Advanced Class teams are physically close enough to be able to pick their opponents across the two leaderboards and see them live at the competition site.

Even though Savage XP had no serious opposition on the Advanced Class leaderboard, they could still follow the Open Class scores on the same performance level. It was Spaceland Lite's new team record average that created a good battle of the former Advanced Class winner with the 2018 winner. Ranch 2nd Generation (18.8) in 5th place, Advanced Class winner of 2017, was too far away for Savage XP.

The combined leaderboard actually features four previous Advanced Class champions between 4th and 7th place: Mass Defiance (2005), Ranch 2nd Generation (2017), Savage XP (2018) and Spaceland Lite (2011). All three Advanced Class medal winners of 2018 (Savage XP, Seattle Swift, Elsinore Elevate) placed withing the Top 10 on the combined leaderboard.