posted Mar 2nd, 2023 - The closest finish of all 4-way events at the Paraclete XP Indoor Championship 2023 happened in the middle of the 13-team field on the 4-way Open Class leaderboard, where Skydive Midwest NEXT and Lightspeed XP ended up tied in 6th place of all the U.S. teams.

The two AAA Class teams have shared the same leaderboards since Lightning XP was formed for the Paraclete XP Indoor Championship 2021, even though the first Lightspeed XP lineup (Shannon Catalano, Brandon Kashani, Kirk Verner, Nicholas Walker) switched once to the Advanced Class competition and won the USPA gold medals in October 2021.

SDMW NEXT and Lightspeed XP did not only share the AAA Class leaderboards, they finished usually very close to each other, at least at the two indoor meets that they attended together. The tied 6th place last month was the latest evidence for the close competition between the same two teams.

NEXT have actually been one of the most consistent challengers of the U.S. top teams, and SDC Rhythm XP used to be the main target for the Midwest. The recent personnel changes in both teams changed the situation, at least temporarily.

Paraclete XP Indoor 2023			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA/4-way Open/Women		15,14,5	19,9,1	10,J,17	M,B,G,E,F	3,18,4	Q,6,C,D	11,7,8	16,H,2	K,N,L,13	A,20,P,O	Total	Avg
1	Arizona Airspeed	US	26	28	31	60	25	42	25	29	37	37	340	34.0
2	Golden Knights	US	20	27	30	58	20	34	23	26	30	28	296	29.6
G	Qatar Tigers	QA	21	26	26	58	22	34	21	24	29	31	292	29.2
3	SDC Rhythm XP	US	20	23	25	52	19	32	23	25	30	27	276	27.6
4	Paraclete XP4	US	21	25	24	43	21	30	21	24	28	26	263	26.3
5	XPG4	US	18	23	24	48	18	29	20	23	25	26	254	25.4
6	Skydive Midwest NEXT	US	19	20	19	45	18	32	19	18	26	24	240	24.0
6	Lightspeed XP	US	19	23	23	38	17	31	19	20	23	27	240	24.0
8	Greenlight	US	18	19	20	45	19	25	18	18	27	26	235	23.5
G	Qatar White	QA	16	23	19	39	17	27	20	20	28	25	234	23.4
G	Qatar Maroon	QA	15	20	21	37	18	23	20	20	23	20	217	21.7
9	Figjam	US	12	14	15	37	11	23	15	17	20	19	183	18.3
10	SNE Fly Girls	US	10	15	16	36	12	17	15	14	20	14	169	16.9

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Skydive Midwest NEXT - Lightspeed XP at the Paraclete XP Indoor Championship 2023 - Video footage courtesy of Paraclete XP

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The NSL News reported the situation of SDC Rhythm XP on 19 November 2022 and recently followed up after the impressive performance at the national indoor championship. The update pointed out that three current Rhythm members (Doug Barron, Keith Connor, Chris Webb) are well trained after a whole year together.

Skydive Midwest NEXT had even outscored SDC Rhythm XP's 2022 lineup at the FAI Indoor World Cup 2022 with an evenly impressive performance of the previous lineup (Megan George, Lauren Byrd, Gorka Amian, Greg Oldendick) and finished in 5th place with a 26.3 average.

NEXT then had to replace two members at the end of the 2022 season (Megan George, Lauren Byrd), and only Gorka Amian, Greg Oldendick continued, now with Katie Healy and Brian Nasset.

The 24.0 average at the Paraclete XP Indoor was the first showing of the new lineup, and the performance at Paraclete XP actually matched the 24.1 at the same place before the 26.3 at the indoor world cup almost exactly. However, SDC Rhythm XP had the head start this time with the new lineup, and Skydive Midwest NEXT will try to catch up again as soon and quickly as possible.

Paraclete XP Indoor 2021		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open	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	29	34	29	28	26	29	43	315	31.5
2	SDC Rhythm XP	25	25	37	27	32	29	26	27	25	41	294	29.4
3	Golden Knights Gold	27	23	40	26	28	19	25	23	26	35	272	27.2
4	XP4	25	19	34	23	28	20	21	21	23	32	246	24.6
5	XPG4	22	20	29	21	23	20	23	19	20	30	227	22.7
6	Skydive Midwest NEXT	21	16	30	22	23	20	20	19	21	28	220	22.0
7	Lightspeed	20	18	28	21	23	19	20	16	19	28	212	21.2
8	Air Force OBYC	18	17	27	17	21	17	19	15	18	19	188	18.8
9	Aviatrixx	18	17	23	15	19	17	16	17	16	25	183	18.3
10	Vega XP	15	17	24	14	18	17	17	16	18	22	178	17.8
11	Golden Knights Black	17	16	22	16	17	16	18	16	16	20	174	17.4

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Skydive Midwest NEXT - Lightspeed XP at the Paraclete XP Indoor Championship 2021 - Video footage courtesy of Paraclete XP

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In the meantime, and while SDC Rhythm XP finished in U.S. bronze medal position at Paraclete XP, Skydive Midwest NEXT found a great sparring partner with Lightspeed XP. Brandon Kashani was actually Lightspeed's only original member of the lineup that won the Advanced Class gold medals at the USPA Nationals 2021 (Shannon Catalano, Nicholas Walker, player-coach Kirk Verner). He was back at the Paraclete XP Indoor Championship last year, where his player-coach of 2021, Kirk Verner, invited him to fill the open slot for Bobba Fat XP (John D'Annunzio, Craig Girard).

Shannon Catalano was recruited by XPG4, who finished right ahead of Skydive Midwest NEXT and Lightspeed XP by 14 points. Jeana Billings, who had stepped back from 4-way Women with XPG4 and continues only with the new XPGK 8-way lineup, took Kirk Verner's player-coaching slot with Lightspeed XP.

James Hall and Matthew Hunt joined forces with Shannon Catalano and Brandon Kashani for the Lightspeed XP lineup in the 4-way Open Class competition of the USPA Nationals 2022, with new XPG4 videographer Joss Martin on camera. Lightspeed XP seem to become a snew strong and consistent factor on U.S. 4-way Open Class leaderboards.

USPA Nationals 2022			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open		G,9,M,8		P,3,O,E		7,13,18		B,21,Q,14		20,L,2		D,1,A,19		5,11,15		10,17,N		F,C,K,H,22		12,J,16		Total	Avg
1	Arizona Airspeed	US	28	-2	32		23		26	-1	22		26		22		21	-1	35		23		258	25.8
G	Qatar Tigers	QA	23	-2	21	-3	20		23		19		23		18		20		29		19	-1	215	21.5
2	Hammertime	US	23	-1	26		16	-1	22	-1	18		20		16	-1	18		26		19		204	20.4
3	SDC Rhythm XP	US	23		24	-1	19		20		15	-1	19	-1	16	-1	17		25		18		196	19.6
4	XPG4	US	22		23	-1	17		20		17	-1	20		15		18		21	-2	16	-1	189	18.9
5	Skydive Midwest NEXT	US	22		23	-1	16	-1	19	-1	15	-1	18	-2	16		16		23	-1	17		185	18.5
G	Qatar Cheetahs	QA	19	-1	20	-2	15	-1	18		16		20		15		16		19	-3	14		172	17.2
6	Lightspeed XP	US	19	-1	19		14	-1	17		14		16	-1	14		14	-1	20		14		161	16.1
G	Qatar Lions	QA	16	-2	19	-3	15		17	-1	16		16		11		15		17		15		157	15.7
7	Spaceland Apex	US	17	-1	19	-1	13	-2	17		10	-2	17		13		12	-2	16	-3	13	-1	147	14.7
8	Corn Needs Butter	US	17	-2	15	-1	13		11	-3	10	-2	14		11		14		15	-2	14		134	13.4
9	SNE Fly Girls	US	13		10	-3	11		11		10		13		10		11		13	-2	9		111	11.1

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Skydive Midwest NEXT - Lightspeed XP at the USPA Nationals 2022 - Video footage courtesy of USPA/InTime

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