posted Jan 26th, 2021 - The story of consecutive USPA double-gold in Intermediate (AA) and Advanced (AAA) Class competition is still not over yet. The NSL News research resulted in a total of nine 4-way competitors (plus videographers James Sides and Adam Elkin) who have accomplished this special achievement in the history of USPA Nationals.

James "Bu" Klinge and Jim Walker were the first double-gold winners, both with Juggernaut in 2002, then with Spaceland Inferno the following year. Andrew Happick, Doug Barron, Joey Coffineau, Ben Worrall and videographer James Sides did the same with their complete lineup and different team names in 2009 (VTSD) and 2010 (Carolina Turbo XP).

Andrew Happick and Doug Barron followed up a decade later with the unique triple-gold, when they won the 4-way Open Class gold medals with SDC Rhythm XP at the USPA Nationals 2019.

In the meantime, Skydive Midwest NEXT won the USPA Intermediate Class in 2015, and three team members (Megan George, Matt Congdon, Chris Haslam) were back with team videographer Adam Elkin a year later to win the Advanced Class gold medals in 2016.

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USPA Nationals 2015		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Intermediate	22,K,F	B,11,21	D,Q,H,13	8,1	P,15,J	L,O,N,C	20,4	19,2	18,14	6,7	M,E,A,G	Total	Avg
1	SDMW Next XP	13	14	15	12	15	21	12	12	9	15	-	138	13.8
2	Ragnarok	14	12	15	11	15	17	12	12	11	14	-	133	13.3
3	Air Force Allegiance	13	8	12	11	12	18	10	11	9	15	23	119	11.9
4	Southern Mix	13	12	12	11	12	17	9	11	9	13	22	119	11.9
5	4Mative	13	8	14	8	13	14	9	11	9	13	-	112	11.2
6	De Orbit Burn	12	13	12	8	8	16	10	10	8	13	-	110	11.0
7	Team Speed XF	11	10	10	10	13	14	8	9	9	13	-	107	10.7
7	Shockwave	11	9	12	11	8	13	11	11	8	13	-	107	10.7
9	SDC Jetstream Tango	8	11	12	9	12	14	9	10	9	12	-	106	10.6
9	AZ Defiance	10	12	10	10	12	17	9	9	7	10	-	106	10.6
11	DeLand Flashpoint	13	9	12	9	9	16	8	10	5	13	-	104	10.4
12	Dallas Disturbance	10	11	10	8	11	15	9	8	8	12	-	102	10.2
13	Zhills TranZend	10	10	11	9	12	14	6	9	8	11	-	100	10.0
14	Dallas HOT	11	10	12	10	10	11	5	10	7	13	-	99	9.9
15	Swift FS	10	10	13	6	10	12	8	8	6	12	-	95	9.5
16	2nd Generation	9	10	9	9	12	7	9	9	7	10	-	91	9.1
17	MeXtreme	9	9	10	9	12	12	8	7	5	9	-	90	9.0
18	Exit Strategy XP	9	8	10	7	7	11	9	9	8	8	-	86	8.6
19	.38 Special	10	8	7	7	6	12	8	8	6	13	-	85	8.5
20	Holograms 4.0	9	9	10	8	7	9	6	9	6	8	-	81	8.1
20	Flight SP	9	7	9	7	8	12	7	6	7	9	-	81	8.1
22	Plug It In Anywhere	9	8	9	7	9	12	7	6	5	8	-	80	8.0
23	Rhemix	6	7	10	7	10	8	7	7	7	9	-	78	7.8
24	Spaceland Toxic	9	10	9	8	10	6	4	7	4	9	-	76	7.6
24	L4S	9	7	10	7	7	9	8	7	6	6	-	76	7.6
26	STF Vega XP	8	9	9	7	10	6	6	3	6	9	-	73	7.3
26	Platinum VE	8	9	10	6	3	6	7	6	7	11	-	73	7.3
28	4 Shades of Grey	8	5	9	6	7	6	6	8	5	8	-	68	6.8
29	Nacho Key	8	7	6	6	6	9	5	6	6	8	-	67	6.7
30	Grand Theft Otter	9	6	5	7	4	7	5	6	7	8	-	64	6.4
31	Netflix and Chill	7	7	5	7	8	8	7	3	3	8	-	63	6.3
31	Elsinore Airscrewz	7	9	7	6	6	2	7	6	6	7	-	63	6.3
33	Don't Fear the Creeper	5	7	5	5	7	8	6	6	5	3	-	57	5.7
34	Luau	5	6	4	4	5	5	4	2	2	4	-	41	4.1
35	Screaming Eagles	5	4	4	1	3	3	4	2	2	6	-	34	3.4
36	The Filthy Five	3	4	4	3	0	3	3	4	3	2	-	29	2.9

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Skydive Midwest NEXT at the USPA Nationals 2015

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The SDMW NEXT double-gold in 2015/2016 was really the end of the story, and the same achievement is still open for any other teams in the future. However, there is another story that relates very much to the same topic, and it begins at the same time.

The original Ranch 2nd Generation (R2G) lineup (Brenn Richards, Christopher Kuhlmann, Joey Marshall, Dean Van Tassell, with Kamuran "Sonic" Bayrasli on camera), competed at the same event where SDMW NEXT won their first set of gold medals in the Intermediate Class. R2G finished in 16th place on the same leaderboard with a 9.1 average.

Future R2G, XPG4 and Airspeed XP8 member Jeana Billings was on the same leaderboard, as well. She finished in 4th place with player-coach and her current Airspeed XP8 team mate John D'Annunzio in the lineup.

R2G was back a year later with Michelle Karamon for Dean Van Tassell. The new lineup won the Intermediate Class competition at the Paraclete XP Indoor Championship 2016 easily and decided to compete in the Advanced Class at the USPA Nationals the same year.

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USPA Nationals 2016		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Advanced	20,D,E,22	M,9,5	12,8,7	H,L,16,15	F,A,N,J,17	G,6,3	K,B,Q,P,C	18,10,11	13,21,4	14,1,19	Total	Avg
1	Skydive Midwest NEXT	16	21	12	13	26	16	31	11	14	9	169	16.9
2	Ranch 2nd Generation	13	17	13	15	20	14	24	11	13	10	150	15.0
3	AF Bachelor Party	13	19	13	15	18	14	20	11	12	12	147	14.7
4	CSC Survival Instinct	12	20	11	14	23	13	23	11	7	12	146	14.6
5	AZ Defiance	13	18	12	14	18	13	22	9	12	11	142	14.2
6	AF Obsidian	13	18	11	12	18	14	21	9	10	10	136	13.6
7	Four Horseman	11	15	13	15	19	11	19	7	13	11	134	13.4
7	CSC Swift	12	16	10	14	20	12	21	8	11	10	134	13.4
9	DeOrbit Burn	12	16	11	13	16	11	20	8	10	10	127	12.7
10	Perris Event Horizon	11	15	11	13	17	12	20	10	10	6	125	12.5
11	Fabio's Angels	11	16	10	12	16	12	15	7	10	10	119	11.9
12	Surge	11	15	9	10	16	10	17	8	9	9	114	11.4
13	Southern Mix XP	11	16	8	10	15	12	16	7	9	9	113	11.3
14	Synthesis	11	12	8	12	15	10	17	7	7	10	109	10.9
15	Perris Quattro	12	9	10	7	17	9	19	7	9	9	108	10.8
16	Perris Flight SP	10	13	9	10	11	12	18	9	8	7	107	10.7
17	Quatre Francais Invite	10	14	9	8	13	9	17	8	9	9	106	10.6
18	Perris Dauntless Five	10	14	9	11	16	9	11	8	8	8	104	10.4
19	Nimbus	11	14	8	10	15	9	14	8	4	6	99	9.9
20	Dallas Momentum	6	13	9	10	14	10	16	7	7	5	97	9.7
21	Dallas Disturbio	10	10	9	7	14	9	14	8	6	9	96	9.6
22	SDC Jetstream Tango	7	14	9	6	10	10	12	8	9	9	94	9.4
23	Elsinore Vortex	10	12	8	10	11	8	13	6	6	6	90	9.0
24	Dallas Disturbed	8	13	9	7	11	7	11	7	8	6	87	8.7
25	Deland Momentum	9	11	7	6	13	7	7	7	6	5	78	7.8

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Skydive Midwest NEXT - Ranch 2nd Generation at the USPA Nationals 2016

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Most likely, R2G would have won the outdoor competition in the Intermediate Class just as easily, however, Skydive Midwest NEXT was in the way in the Advanced Class competition of the USPA Nationals 2016 and was eventually the only team ahead of R2G.

The same R2G lineup was back in the Advanced Class a year later. SDMW NEXT had moved up into the 4-way Open Class, and R2G won the Advanced Class gold medals in 2017, after silver in 2016. Former NEXT member Chris Haslam then replaced Brenn Richards in the tail slot when R2G moved up into the Open Class competition, for a 5th place with 18.8 at the USPA Nationals 2018.

Jeana Billings finally replaced Chris Haslam for the last R2G season, and for a battle with Defiance for Open Class bronze medals at the USPA Nationals 2019.

Intermediate and Advanced Class gold medals were already far behind the goals of the R2G members at that time. Joey Marshall and Christopher Kuhlmann are now pursuing the U.S. and the world's 4-way top spot with Arizona Airspeed, while Michelle Karamon and Jeana Billings try to win world meet gold medals in 8-way with Airspeed XP8, and plan to bring XPG4 to the top level in 4-way Women at the same time.