posted Jul 4th, 2021 - The approach in the transition from USPA's Advanced Class competition to 4-way Open happened when Mass Defiance set a new example in 2005. With the series of earlier Advanced Class stories, the NSL News has pointed out that most of the Advanced Class winners did not step up into the 4-way Open Class.

Mass Defiance registered twice for the Advanced Class competition with the original lineup (Ben Liston, Jim Rees, John Silva, Brian Stephens, Richard Smith and Steve "Scuba" Feldman on camera). They witnessed the Elsinore medal sweep in 2004 and missed their own bronze medal by one single point.

The same lineup, this time with Steve "Scuba" Feldman on camera, were back a year later on the Advanced Class leaderboard and won the USPA gold medals by 12 points over a new Elsinore team (Gravity) in the same category. Mass Defiance then had to move up into the AAA Class competition, while Elsinore Gravity volunteered to do the same with a new lineup.

Mass Defiance joined the 4-way Open Class competition with the same lineup who placed 4th in 2004 and won the Advanced Class gold medals in 2005, only with their new team videographer, Steve "Scuba" Feldman. It was the first time in the history of USPA Advanced Class competition that the winner would step up into the 4-way Open Class with the same team that won the USPA Advanced Class gold medals the previous year.

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USPA Nationals 2004		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Advanced	4,P,22	16,2,8	21,N,14	3,H,M,7	12,6,17	15,10,L	O,13,1	K,18,11	Q,B,20,D	19,G,C,F	Total	Avg
1	Elsinore Adrenaline	14	12	9	17	12	13	14	12	14	15	132	13.2
2	Elsinore GT	15	11	10	14	11	11	14	12	16	16	130	13.0
3	Elsinore Satori	12	12	10	16	10	12	14	10	16	17	129	12.9
4	Mass Defiance	13	12	13	11	10	11	13	14	16	15	128	12.8
5	Perris Jamba	8	10	13	15	10	11	13	12	14	16	122	12.2
5	Cross Keys Down to Earth	12	9	10	14	10	12	12	12	15	16	122	12.2
7	Perris Katalyst	12	11	11	14	10	11	10	10	15	17	121	12.1
8	Dallas Tantrum	12	9	11	13	10	10	12	9	13	14	113	11.3
9	Invisicid	7	12	12	15	8	7	11	9	12	15	108	10.8
10	Perris K2	10	9	11	13	8	8	12	9	12	13	105	10.5
11	Perris Euros	11	7	9	13	8	8	12	9	12	13	102	10.2
12	Dallas Sky	10	9	9	9	9	9	11	9	12	14	101	10.1
13	PIRK	10	10	11	11	9	8	10	10	10	8	97	9.7
14	OY & WO	5	9	11	10	9	9	10	8	8	11	90	9.0
15	Wingspan	8	7	9	8	8	6	10	8	3	11	78	7.8
15	Tora Tachi	9	8	9	7	8	7	9	2	8	11	78	7.8
17	MARAE	2	1	5	6	5	4	5	1	2	0	31	3.1

Mass Defiance scoring progression between 2004 and 2019

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Mass Defiance and Elsinore Gravity's new lineup both finished with significantly increased meet averages and in the same order, this time on the 4-way Open Class leaderboard, even though Elsinore Gravity had cut the 12-point difference of 2005 to one single point a year later.

Elsinore Gravity did not continue after one year in the Advanced Class and another year in the Open Class, while Mass Defiance had no intention of stopping after the 9th place at the team's first USPA Open Class competition, with or without their toughest opponent in 2005 and 2006.

Mass Defiance actually followed up with another new team record average of 19.3 a year later at the USPA Nationals in Ottawa. It was once again the original lineup who placed 5th in the USPA 4-way Open Class rankings. Only the four full-time teams (Airspeed Odyssey, Fastrax, Golden Knights, Perris Fury) placed ahead of Mass Defiance.

The team members had no intention to change their recreational 4-way agenda and become a full-time 4-way team, even though they still did not have enough yet of 4-way training and competition.

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USPA Nationals 2005		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Advanced	2,A,19	F,20,D,9	C,21,N,11	15,M,8	4,6,P	5,1,H	22,7,12	3,K,16	E,17,14	13,18,J	Total	Avg
1	Mass Defiance	19	19	16	15	15	15	12	14	15	14	154	15.4
2	Elsinore Gravity	16	20	11	13	15	15	12	13	14	13	142	14.2
3	Perris Katalyst	14	16	14	14	12	13	9	13	11	12	128	12.8
4	Elsinore GT	13	16	11	13	13	13	9	12	13	10	123	12.3
5	Inviscid	14	15	12	13	10	14	10	9	12	13	122	12.2
6	Y-Train	10	16	8	11	12	12	12	13	13	12	119	11.9
6	Perris Storm	15	15	11	11	10	13	10	12	11	11	119	11.9
8	Cross Keys Vision	13	15	11	11	13	8	10	11	10	10	112	11.2
9	Golden Knights SA	13	14	9	10	10	10	10	10	7	9	102	10.2
10	Perris CNC	13	14	10	10	10	7	8	9	12	7	100	10.0
10	AZ Seals TNT	12	12	9	11	10	8	8	10	11	9	100	10.0
12	Weekend of Fun	11	10	10	9	10	11	8	10	11	8	98	9.8
13	PERris HELION	11	13	10	11	10	10	7	6	10	9	97	9.7
14	Perris Ice	11	8	10	11	9	9	9	9	11	8	95	9.5
15	LMP	11	14	8	11	11	11	11	11	0	0	88	8.8
16	Perris Censored	9	11	7	9	8	8	8	8	7	8	83	8.3
17	Spaceland's Method	10	12	8	7	8	7	6	7	9	5	79	7.9
17	Perris K II	10	7	9	8	8	6	6	9	9	7	79	7.9
19	Mass Confusion	6	6	6	0	5	0	5	4	5	6	43	4.3

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Mass Defiance at the USPA Nationals 2006

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The original lineup began to change in 2008, after the first five Mass Defiance years. Former Airspeed member Dennis Rook replaced Jim Rees in 2008, and the new lineup was ready for another 19+ average at the USPA Nationals, after an 18.1 at Paraclete XP's Summer Classic.

It was the second year for Mass Defiance with coach Pete Allum. The original lineup had worked their way up to the Advanced Class gold medals in 2005 and the 16.7 average in 2006 without external coaching. Pete Allum helped the team to the 19.3 in 2007, and the 20-average benchmark was naturally the next goal, now with Dennis Rook in the lineup.

However, the pursuit of the new goal had to be postponed, as a 1-pointer in Round 10, caused by an exit and video disaster, did not allow Mass Defiance of 2008 to get anywhere close. Then the lineups changed more frequently in the following years, and it was finally the DNR lineup of 2012 (Ben Liston, Brian Stephens, Steve Johnson, James Klinge, Patrick Walker on camera) who finished with the new 20.7 Mass Defiance record average.

That was still not the end of the Mass Defiance progression from the USPA Advanced Class title in 2005 to the 4-way Open Class 20+ level. Original members Ben Liston and Brian Stephens had Nick Grillet and James "Bu" Klinge in the lineup when they won their first USPA Open Class medals with the 3rd place and a 20.8 average at the USPA Nationals 2019. It was the 16th consecutive time that Ben Liston and Brian Stephens competed together at the national championships. They are now USPA's defending national bronze medalists at this year's event...

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USPA Nationals 2006		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open	13,19,17	N,21,14	7,M,8	9,K,10	B,22,H,3	4,20,16	G,6,1	12,F,2	J,L,Q,P,18	E,O,5,D	Total	Avg
1	DeLand Groove	21	19	22	22	22	19	20	19	25	33	222	22.2
2	Black Cat	17	19	24	23	20	17	19	19	29	31	218	21.8
3	Fastrax	20	18	24	22	22	17	20	19	25	29	216	21.6
4	Airspeed Odyssey	15	17	21	20	21	17	18	19	27	31	206	20.6
5	Perris Fury	16	17	21	20	20	16	19	17	24	29	199	19.9
6	Golden Knights Black	19	16	23	21	20	15	19	19	24	20	196	19.6
7	Airspeed Velocity	17	17	21	20	17	15	19	17	25	25	193	19.3
8	FiaZco	15	14	19	18	17	14	17	16	23	23	176	17.6
9	Mass Defiance	15	14	19	16	14	15	14	15	22	23	167	16.7
10	Elsinore Gravity	15	16	21	10	13	14	17	16	19	25	166	16.6
11	Synchronicity	13	14	16	16	14	13	15	15	19	24	159	15.9
12	Dallas Thunder	13	14	19	16	13	12	14	16	17	23	157	15.7
13	Arizona Razor	12	12	16	15	14	13	14	12	14	18	140	14.0
14	Elsinore Select	11	12	16	13	14	8	12	14	16	20	136	13.6
15	Kaktus Hunter	13	12	14	12	13	11	11	10	15	12	123	12.3

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Mass Defiance at the USPA Nationals 2019

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