posted Aug 23rd, 2021 - SDC RhEvolution XP did not only catch the attention of the NSL News after winning the AAA/Advanced Class competition at the Paraclete XP Indoor Championship 2021, even though there was not much competition for the Midwest Skydiving League team in this category. The new lineup was already introduced on 29 November 2020, and the potential was promising.

The indoor competition at Paraclete XP was the next step and the first competition for the new lineup, and they followed up with the team's first outdoor meet at the Carolina Skydiving League in May.

The new RhEvolution lineup completed all ten rounds in May, and they added ten more meet rounds at the July meet of the Midwest Skydiving League League. Matt Alarif, Alex Bucevicius, Chris Normandeau and Chris Webb, with Tracy Holman on camera, were on a highly competitive level on the AAA Class leaderboard in July, only three points behind the British national team in 4-way Open, Chimera, and tied with the U.S. national team in 4-way Women, Aviatrixx, after the number of rounds that the teams completed together.

The NSL News also pointed out on July 23rd that the parallel development and progression of SDC RhEvolution XP and Vega XP was promising an exciting Advanced Class competition at the USPA Nationals this year, where the Advanced Class indoor champions of 2020 (Vega XP) and 2021 (SDC RhEvolution XP) would be back on the same Advanced Class leaderboard as they were at the last USPA Nationals in 2019, this time most likely in a battle for the top spot.

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NSL Network July 2021			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class		Q,L,16,13		M,B,2,12		N,G,4,22		11,E,10		P,O,17,C		19,K,8		7,D,15		H,9,1		6,18,A		14,F,20		Total	Avg
1	Chimera	UK	13		17		17		14		25		14		-		-		-		-		(47)	16.7
2	Aviatrixx	US	14	-1	16		14		13	-1	20	-1	14		13	-1	18	-1	-		-		(44)	15.3
2	SDC RhEvolution XP	US	15		15		14		12		22		13		14		17		14		14		(44)	15.0
4	Bardarbunga 3.0	DE	14		16		11		-		-		-		-		-		-		-		(41)	13.7
5	HF Flying Circus	CZ	12		12		13		11		21		14		14		17		13		11		(37)	13.8
6	Paranodon Classic Mix	DE	10		11		11		-		-		-		-		-		-		-		(32)	10.7
7	SDC Rheology	US	8	-1	11		9		9		8	-2	8		11		11		8	-1	-		(28)	9.2
8	Dream Team	CZ	10		10		7		8	-1	0		9		9	-1	14		10		10		(27)	8.7
9	Vantage	UK	8		10		8		8		13		9		-		-		-		-		(26)	9.3
10	Drachenfeuer	DE	8		7		7		-		-		-		-		-		-		-		(22)	7.3
11	M Team	CZ	4		5		6		1		8		4	-1	6		8		6		5	-1	(15)	5.3

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SDC RhEvolution XP at the July meet of the Midwest Skydiving League

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Vega XP and SDC RhEvolution XP are not the only expected top contenders in the Advanced Class of the USPA Nationals 2021. The FAI Tanay Mondial 2020 is in the books, and the U.S. teams are switching back to their domestic challenges, as well.

Airspeed XP8 world champions Niklas Hemlin, Mikhail Markine and Christopher Kuhlmann will take on SDC Rhythm XP in 4-way Open and try to take back the 4-way top spot in the United States, then compete for the U.S. delegation at the next world meet in Eloy 2022. SDC Rhythm XP will try to defend their title with the same world meet lineup.

The situation is very similar in 4-way Women, where Jeana Billings and Michelle Karamon are returning from Russia as new 8-way world champions. They were watching Aviatrixx, the U.S. national team in 4-way Women, missing the bronze medals in a dramatic way that the NSL News covered on August 17th.

Jeana Billings' and Michelle Karamon's 4-way team XPG4, with Morgan Womble and Brenn Richards in the lineup, Andres Mesa on camera, don't really look much at the Aviatrixx scores. They had their eyes mostly on the French and the Russian scores in Tanay, who they would like to challenge next year in Eloy.

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Paraclete XP Indoor 2021		1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	19,13,O		21,12,16		A,B,D,11		4,15,C		17,3,E		Q,G,18,22		6,7,14		9,10,2		1,P,20		L,K,H,5		Total	Avg
1	Arizona Airspeed	28		27		42	-2	29		34		29		28		26	-1	29		43	-2	315	31.5
2	SDC Rhythm XP	25	-2	25		37	-2	27		32		29		26	-1	27		25	-1	41	-1	294	29.4
3	Golden Knights Gold	27		23		40		26		28		19	-4	25		23		26		35		272	27.2
4	XP4	25		19		34		23		28		20	-3	21	-1	21		23		32		246	24.6
5	XPG4	22		20		29		21		23		20	-1	23		19		20	-1	30		227	22.7
6	Skydive Midwest NEXT	21	-3	16	-2	30	-2	22		23		20	-1	20	-1	19	-1	21		28	-1	220	22.0
7	Lightspeed	20	-1	18	-1	28	-1	21		23		19	-1	20		16	-1	19	-1	28		212	21.2
8	Air Force OBYC	18		17	-1	27		17		21		17	-1	19		15	-3	18	-1	19	-3	188	18.8
9	Aviatrixx	18	-1	17		23	-1	15	-1	19		17		16	-2	17		16	-1	25		183	18.3
10	SDC RhEvolution XP	19		16	-1	24	-1	15	-2	18		18		16	-2	15	-1	17		21	-1	179	17.9
11	Vega XP	15	-3	17		24		14	-2	18		17		17		16		18		22		178	17.8
12	Golden Knights Black	17	-1	16	-1	22	-2	16		17		16		18	-1	16		16	-1	20	-1	174	17.4
13	Jabberwocky	17	-1	15		21	-1	16		15	-1	14	-1	17		15		14	-2	20	-1	164	16.4
14	CT True Blue	17		13	-2	18	-2	15	-2	17	-2	12	-2	17		15		16		17		157	15.7

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Lightspeed - SDC RhEvolution XP - Vega XP at the Paraclete XP Indoor Championship 2021

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And then there is another new 8-way world champion, who will compete in 4-way at the USPA Nationals and try to defend a U.S. title. As player-coach, Kirk Verner won the USPA Advanced Class gold medals together with his current 8-way team mate Jeana Billings in 2018 (Savage XP), then again alone in 2019 with Redline XP.

This year, he has been guiding Lightspeed as the team's player-coach. The NSL News had introduced the lineup on March 26th, after the team competed at the Paraclete XP Indoor Championship 2021 and outscored Brandon Kashani's and Nicholas Walker's former team mates Ian and Annie Drennan.

Lightspeed decided to follow up with outdoor training and made plans for the Advanced Class competition at the USPA Nationals, after posting their scores on the 4-way Open Class leaderboard at Paraclete XP. Kirk Verner's Redline XP team mate James Hall has been training and competing with Vega XP this year, and he will also try defend the same Advanced Class title.

Eventually, SDC RhEvolution XP, Vega XP and Lightspeed will all face each other on the same Advanced Class leaderboard in October. SDC RhEvolution XP's 15.0 average is the highest Advanced Class outdoor average of this slow year so far. It will surely not be enough to win Advanced Class gold medals, while it was another stepping stone for RhEvolution on the way there...