posted Nov 10th, 2018 - The recent NSL News update on the current situation of the Golden Knights on 7 November mentioned that there will be serious competition for the U.S. Army team next year. An earlier update after the 8-way competition at the USPA Nationals 2018 had covered the success of the Paraclete XP 8-way team by winning their first USPA gold medals.

Golden Knights and XP8 did not get the opportunity to compete directly with each other at Chicagoland Skydiving after the U.S. Army team was called back to North Carolina due to the threatening Hurricane Florence approaching their headquarters.

Both 8-way teams continue next year, and the situation will be very different. The Golden Knights are re-building their lineup with significant personnel changes, while XP8 plan to pick up the training efforts and challenge the Golden Knights for the USPA gold medals and the qualification for the next world meet in 2020.

Golden Knights and XP8 competed with and against each other at the beginning of the year at the Paraclete XP Indoor Championship where the 8-way world champions of 2012, 2014, 2016 and 2018 finished far ahead of all other 8-way teams. However, XP8's pickup team still impressed with a 24.8 average, and several of the team members were back in the gold medal lineup at the USPA Nationals.

Paraclete XP Indoor 2018			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	8-way Open		17,19,B	J,O,21,N	Q,8,A,22	10,P,2	13,5,6	12,H,18	9,C,G,K	M,D,E,4	1,F,7	3,16,11	Total	Avg
1	Golden Knights	US	26	31	27	24	25	31	31	39	30	40	304	30.4
2	Qatar Falcons	QA	21	26	22	19	22	27	22	27	29	34	249	24.9
3	XP8	US	20	22	22	21	20	26	23	33	29	32	248	24.8
4	Veloce QRF	IN	18	20	19	17	19	21	22	29	23	29	217	21.7
5	Rhythm8	US	18	18	20	15	14	21	21	24	19	21	191	19.1
6	Veloce Captain Jack	IN	14	18	16	15	16	17	20	25	19	22	182	18.2
7	Blocksmiths XP	US	14	16	16	16	15	15	17	19	17	18	163	16.3
8	Spaceland Lite	US	12	12	12	13	13	14	13	18	17	18	142	14.2

Kirk Verner, John D'Annunzio, JaNette Lefkowitz, Jeana Billings, Michelle Karamon and Steve Lefkowitz were in the indoor lineup at the end of February, where Brian Krause and Chris Haslam completed the lineup. The same 6-way then joined forces with Thomas Hughes and Josh Hall at the USPA Nationals and won with a 16.9 average.

Paraclete XP8 is moving forward with the 8-way plans for 2018, and the first training camp is scheduled for next week in Raeford.

Golden Knights team captain Andrew Starr provided the lineup information of the Golden Knights earlier this week, and the NSL News will follow up with the final XP8 lineup as soon as possible.

No matter who will eventually join Kirk Verner and John D'Annunzio for the 8-way project - it will be a very strong team, and there will be serious 8-way competition for the top spot in the United States next year.

Civilian 8-way teams have a successful history in the U.S.A. and claimed the top spot whenever they put enough efforts into training and competition (Mirror Image - Coors - Arizona Airspeed). The Golden Knights will be under pressure in 2019...