posted Jun 5th, 2021 - Georgia Skydiving League team Nemesis were the next USPA Advanced Class champions in 2002. They were also the next winners in this category who did not continue in the USPA Open Class after investing three years into their successful team project with the goal to win Advanced Class gold medals.

Nemesis members Kimberly Brandt and Douglas Glover actually started with Nemesis in the Missouri Skydiving League of 1999 before switching to the Georgia Skydiving League with their new lineup a year later. The first Nemesis lineup (Steven Graves, Steven Johnson, Larry Miyasaka on camera) placed 4th in the challenging Intermediate Class competition of the USPA Nationals, when the shorter sequences (3 - 4 points) had all 24 blocks of the Open Class in the draw.

The next Nemesis lineup, with Christopher Golden, Jaimie Johnson and Nicolas Halseth on camera, could take advantage of sufficient and more challenging competition practice opportunities in the Georgia Skydiving League and won the USPA Advanced Class silver medals behind Teiwaz in 2000.

Nemesis and Teiwaz both won their sets of USPA Advanced Class medals behind the guest teams Barry Jive's Uptown 5 and Optic Nerve, as the NSL News reported on May 28th.

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USPA Nationals 2000		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Advanced	E,5,19	P,21,15	7,24,13	F,23,J,17	1,22,12	D,G,M,11	20,B,4	8,H,18	16,14,A	K,L,C,Q,O	Total	Avg
-	Barry Jive's Uptown 5	14	14	14	14	12	17	11	11	13	20	140	14.0
-	Optic Nerve	14	12	13	14	14	15	16	12	9	19	138	13.8
1	Teiwaz	12	13	13	15	12	15	14	11	11	16	132	13.2
2	Nemesis	12	12	11	15	11	14	11	10	11	14	121	12.1
3	DeLand PD Gold	10	12	11	9	10	14	12	11	11	18	118	11.8
4	Impulse Rhode Island	11	11	11	11	9	16	12	11	10	15	117	11.7
5	San Marcos Fast4ward	12	13	11	11	9	13	12	10	9	15	115	11.5
6	Sebastian Tonic	11	10	11	12	11	13	8	11	6	19	112	11.2
7	DeLand Chain Gang	10	10	11	12	8	14	11	8	6	17	107	10.7
7	Cave Girls	3	10	12	13	10	14	9	9	11	16	107	10.7
9	Arizona Inertia	10	12	10	12	10	13	11	5	10	13	106	10.6
10	RX Raeford Xpress	13	9	11	6	10	14	11	10	10	10	104	10.4
10	Ranch Equinox	9	11	8	13	10	12	9	9	8	15	104	10.4
10	Perris High Pressure	12	12	11	11	11	13	10	9	8	7	104	10.4
10	Mach 5	10	7	12	14	11	11	8	2	11	18	104	10.4
14	RPM	9	10	9	13	10	12	5	9	8	9	94	9.4
15	Ranch Team One	10	11	9	9	8	9	8	9	8	11	92	9.2
16	Z Girls	11	10	9	6	8	8	7	9	9	14	91	9.1
16	Fusion 4	10	6	9	10	9	8	11	9	6	13	91	9.1
16	Elsinore Stratos 4	9	10	9	9	7	9	10	7	9	12	91	9.1
19	Quantum Leap	7	9	7	11	9	10	11	7	8	11	90	9.0
20	Ekat	6	5	9	10	9	12	7	7	7	15	87	8.7
21	Mr. Pink	9	9	9	10	9	9	10	4	7	9	85	8.5
21	Jetstream	8	7	11	9	5	10	8	7	8	12	85	8.5
23	Maximum Yield	8	8	9	10	7	7	9	8	7	9	82	8.2
23	Funcused	7	10	9	7	6	11	7	6	8	11	82	8.2
25	Skydive Chicago STL-4	7	8	9	11	8	10	10	8	0	8	79	7.9
25	Elsinore 4-Cast	3	9	9	10	9	9	10	4	7	9	79	7.9
27	Perris Express	8	9	9	8	8	3	7	7	7	11	77	7.7
28	Team Willy	9	8	7	6	9	6	8	8	4	11	76	7.6
29	Environmental Impact	9	4	9	8	7	9	7	8	6	7	74	7.4
39	White Ravens	7	4	6	5	8	8	9	5	8	8	68	6.8
31	Lodi 499	8	7	7	5	8	6	6	4	5	6	62	6.2
32	Air Force Falcons	6	7	0	5	6	2	6	4	0	3	39	3.9

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The Nemesis lineup changed again in 2001 when former Chain Gang member Jim Goempel and Bill Thomasson joined Kimberly Brandt and Douglas Glover. Jim Goempel's former Chain Gang videographer Seth Cohen took over the camera slot for Nemesis.

Nemesis collected once again more competition experiences in Georgia, and the new lineup was ready to go after the USPA Advanced Class gold medals in 2001. However, the former South African guest competitors (Solly Williams, Gary Smith, Robbie Spencer) were now naturalized and eligible for USPA medals in the Advanced Class with their respective teams (Identity Crisis, Optic Nerve). Nemesis ended up in 3rd place.

Kimberly Brandt, Douglas Glover and Jim Goempel then decided to add another year of training and competition for a new gold-medal attempt in the USPA Advanced Class of 2002. Rodney Cruce replaced Bill Thomasson, and Nemesis competed in Georgia and also traveled to Florida for even more competition practice. The new lineup was once again ready for the USPA Nationals.

The Nemesis story came to a happy ending after a jump-off round with the Angry Beez of the Carolina Skydiving League and the application of the tie-breaking rules. Nemesis added one more round with Bill Thomasson for Rodney Cruce at the NSL Championship in November and then retired.

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USPA Nationals 2001		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Advanced	6,F,18	7,17,22	G,21,3	M,N,P,16	2,Q,1	12,4,19	H,14,L,15	B,24,J,23	9,A,8	C,5,E,10	Total	Avg
1	Identity Crisis	16	14	13	19	19	13	15	15	18	13	155	15.5
2	Optic Nerve	15	15	17	15	17	13	13	17	18	8	148	14.8
3	Nemesis	14	12	13	12	14	10	14	16	17	13	135	13.5
4	Arizona Fast 4ward	14	13	13	14	16	9	14	12	16	13	134	13.4
5	Arizona Inertia	13	11	13	14	15	11	12	14	14	11	128	12.8
6	RPM	14	10	9	14	16	11	13	14	14	12	127	12.7
7	Cross Connect	10	11	10	14	12	11	11	14	14	11	118	11.8
8	Flash	11	9	9	14	14	10	11	13	14	11	116	11.6
8	Angry Beez	14	9	8	13	16	9	9	15	16	7	116	11.6
10	Perris Centerpoint	12	11	12	13	13	11	9	12	12	10	115	11.5
11	Elsinore Enigma	10	8	11	11	13	10	12	12	14	10	111	11.1
12	Convergence	12	7	8	12	14	11	11	11	13	9	108	10.8
13	Air Brush	9	8	10	13	10	9	11	12	13	11	106	10.6
14	Ranch Equinox	11	7	8	13	14	8	10	9	9	11	100	10.0
15	Crosskeys Jetstream	8	10	8	13	12	8	11	11	10	7	98	9.8
16	American Flyers	13	6	8	9	9	11	11	9	11	10	97	9.7
17	DeLand Silver	11	4	9	12	11	11	9	10	11	6	94	9.4
18	Perris Time Warp	8	10	9	8	11	9	9	11	10	7	92	9.2
18	Mr. Pink	9	6	8	9	13	10	7	13	8	9	92	9.2
20	Back Draft	10	6	9	11	9	9	7	11	12	6	90	9.0
21	Just In Time	9	8	8	11	10	8	8	10	9	8	89	8.9
22	Millennium Alpha	9	8	8	9	11	6	9	10	9	8	87	8.7
23	Monomania	9	7	9	9	11	8	9	7	9	7	85	8.5
24	Lodi 499	9	8	9	10	10	6	8	9	9	5	83	8.3
25	Expedition 2001	9	8	8	10	7	6	8	7	10	9	82	8.2
26	Ranch Avgas	10	7	5	7	8	9	9	7	10	7	79	7.9
26	Carolina Verve	10	7	5	9	11	6	8	10	10	3	79	7.9
28	Aerohio Sin-Force	5	9	5	7	10	7	9	11	5	8	76	7.6

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NSL News on 12 September 2002: USPA Advanced Class competition ended as expected

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The competition in the much discussed Advanced Class of the USPA Nationals finally ended up with the expected race between Georgia Skydiving League champion Nemesis and Carolina Skydiving League team Angry Beez. Although both teams stayed significantly below their usual performance and scoring level, they still pulled far enough away from the rest of the field to fight it out just between the two teams.

Nemesis and Angry Beez were tied after ten rounds and had to go into a jump-off round for the gold medals. Both teams posted the same scores again in Round 11. The judges had to dig deep into the set of rules to break the tie. The highest score of the 10-round meet would now determine the winner. But both teams had posted 17's in Round 5.

Next step was to look for the highest score for a round starting at the end of the competition and working backwards. Both teams had posted 13's in Round 10. Round 9 finally broke the tie with Nemesis outscoring the Beez 16 to 13. The gold medals went to Georgia.

Tunnel Vision in third place ended up only three points behind the two top contenders. The team with former PD Blue member and player coach David Van Greuningen moved quietly closer and closer to Nemesis and the Beez who appeared to be nervous through their exciting race with each other. Nemesis lost a total of seven points due to penalties and nj's, the Beez gave up five points.

With the top contenders not performing as strong as expected, other teams had the chance to post competitive scores for different rounds, as well. Seven teams shared the highscores for all rounds throughout the whole meet. However, Nemesis and Angry Beez still managed to recover every time they had a bad round and moved together to the most exciting final with jump-off and tie-breaker.

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USPA Nationals 2002		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Advanced	B,12,2	K,6,4	20,5,13	D,Q,11,18	N,3,9	A,21,16	22,H,L,J	G,C,7,15	E,19,17	10,P,M,8	O,F,1,14	Total	Avg
1	Nemesis	13	12	13	14	17	16	8	15	16	13	16	137	13.7
2	Angry Beez	10	15	8	15	17	14	16	16	13	13	16	137	13.7
3	Tunnel Vision	13	13	12	12	14	14	15	13	14	14	-	134	13.4
4	Ranch Vibe	12	14	10	13	13	14	13	15	16	11	-	131	13.1
4	Delirium	12	12	12	13	17	13	15	13	11	13	-	131	13.1
6	Fast Forward	12	12	10	11	16	13	15	13	13	11	-	126	12.6
7	High Performance	14	10	12	13	16	14	12	14	9	11	-	125	12.5
7	Formula 4	13	14	8	9	16	14	14	10	14	13	-	125	12.5
9	Jetstream	14	13	10	14	10	14	15	13	10	11	-	124	12.4
10	Elsinore GT	12	12	9	14	15	10	12	14	12	13	-	123	12.3
11	DeLand TBD	12	9	8	10	14	14	12	13	13	13	-	118	11.8
12	DeLand Superfly	12	13	9	11	14	8	14	10	12	11	-	114	11.4
13	4X	10	10	6	11	13	11	11	11	11	9	-	103	10.3
14	Staccato	8	9	8	9	12	10	11	12	8	10	-	97	9.7
15	Warp Factor	9	9	7	8	9	8	10	9	10	7	-	86	8.6
16	Vertical Junction	9	7	8	8	8	8	10	7	9	7	-	81	8.1

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