posted Mar 27th, 2019 - The interesting 8-way situation in the United States has been a regular topic for the NSL News, and there is no end to it.

Two teams have been dominating the 8-way competition taking turns since 1986, Golden Knights and Arizona Airspeed. The U.S. Army team won the national championships between 1986 and 1997 before Arizona Airspeed took over in 1998 and maintained the top spot until 2009. Then the Golden Knights came back with a new 8-way team the same year and have won each national 8-way title ever since, with one exception.

This exception happened last year at the USPA Nationals when Hurricane Florence was threatening the U.S. Army's headquarters in North Carolina, and the Golden Knights withdrew from the competition to travel back home.

Paraclete XP8 won the 8-way competition unexpectedly and became the third official USPA 8-way champion since 1986. Now it seems like XP8 is eager to defend this USPA title, and they have already captured the U.S. indoor championship title, as well. The NSL News mentioned earlier that XP8 will compete for the U.S. delegation at the FAI Indoor World Meet 2019.

USPA Nationals 2018			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	8-way Open		8,B,6	P,3,C,M	1,18,Q	22,E,16	11,17,H	L,12,13	7,A,20	19,14,9	J,5,4	G,15,10	Total	Avg
1	XP8	US	17	20	19	17	14	13	17	14	21	17	169	16.9
2	Arizona Airspeedish	US	13	22	19	18	15	15	15	13	16	19	165	16.5
3	Qatar Falcons	QA	16	21	18	14	15	15	16	13	17	16	161	16.1
4	Amphibious Attack Tigers	US	12	14	13	14	10	9	10	9	14	13	118	11.8
5	French Monsters	US	10	9	10	10	9	10	5	10	10	11	94	9.4
6	Blocksmiths XP	US	10	10	10	6	6	6	8	7	10	7	80	8.0

It is actually not the first time that Paraclete is trying seriously to take the 8-way top spot in the United States. In fact, the 2009 lineup ended up only two points away from competing for the United States at the FAI World Meet 2010 in Menzelinsk.

Arizona Airspeed won the 8-way competition at the USPA Nationals 2009. However, Airspeed Odyssey (Eliana Rodriguez, Craig Girard, Mark Kirkby, Andy Delk and Steve Nowak on camera) wanted to focus only on 4-way in 2010 and handed the 8-way responsibilities over to the new Golden Knights lineup who had placed 2nd in 2009.

Paraclete XP8 finished only two points behind the Golden Knights and within striking distance of the top spot. The team was well prepared and had just as much bad luck in 2009 as the Golden Knights had last year with the hurricane emergency call.

Two shoulder injuries interfered with the Paraclete plans in the run-up to the USPA Nationals 2009. XP8 members Kirk Verner and Gary Beyer could not compete at Spaceland, where Brian Johnson and Shannon Pilcher helped out on a very short call. John D'Annunzio, John Eagle, Todd Hawkins, Andy Honigbaum, Thomas Hughes and Patrick McGowan competed with the two substitutes and Matt McLean on camera.

USPA Nationals 2009		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	8-way Open	12,5,Q	22,K,9	F,19,D,20	H,15,4	11,N,3	G,C,14,B	17,13,18	L,M,P,2	16,O,1	E,10,A,6	Total	Avg
1	Arizona Airspeed	15	19	18	27	21	19	15	19	24	19	196	19.6
2	Golden Knights	15	18	17	23	23	19	15	19	23	17	189	18.9
3	Paraclete 8	14	19	17	23	22	18	11	19	24	20	187	18.7
4	Dallas Rogue	12	14	13	19	13	15	13	15	14	11	139	13.9
5	Spaceland BFE Elsinore	8	13	12	14	13	11	11	11	16	11	120	12.0
6	Perris Moxie	10	11	11	15	10	12	11	9	14	11	114	11.4
7	SPX 8	6	8	8	6	8	9	9	9	12	8	83	8.3
8	PD Rhythmic Temptations	6	8	8	10	9	7	7	9	9	8	81	8.1
9	Perris Stun	7	7	7	8	5	7	7	3	4	6	61	6.1
9	Deguello 9	7	8	7	11	8	8	5	7	-	-	61	7.6

Golden Knights and Paraclete XP8 at the USPA Nationals 2009

The bad luck for XP8 in 2009 had more implications on the team plans than last year's situation for the Golden Knights. Paraclete's 8-way team missed the opportunity to compete at the world championship in 2010, while the USPA Nationals 2018 was not the qualification event for Tanay 2020. The Golden Knights can still win this year and travel again to Russia ten years after the last visit.

Only current XP8 members John D'Annunzio and Kirk Verner were also in the 2009 lineup, together with Thomas Hughes, who was back in the 8-way lineup last year, and Kirk Verner had to sit on the bench in 2009. Paraclete did not try again with the same efforts as in 2009 to win the USPA 8-way title, and the 18.7 average of 2009 is still the highest Paraclete outdoor average in 8-way. Golden Knights and Arizona Airspeed are still the only USPA 8-way champions since 1986, disregarding the national championships last year.

John D'Annunzio and Kirk Verner are now leading a new Paraclete 8-way lineup into the 2019 outdoor season, where the goal is the same as in 2009. XP8 want to win the 8-way competition at the USPA Nationals exactly a decade later and compete for the U.S. delegation in Tanay 2020.

Paraclete's 8-way team of 2009 finished only 3rd due to the circumstances, while chances are much better this year. Arizona Airspeed has no serious 8-way plans, and the Golden Knights are far behind at the moment. Paraclete's 18.7 average in 8-way will probably also be history in September this year...