posted Oct 17th, 2023 - The NSL News covered the closest battle on the 4-way Open Class leaderboard of the USPA Nationals 2023 with the update on October 10th. SDC Rhythm XP had won the USPA bronze medals by one single point over the new lineup of the Golden Knights.

There was still another duel for the positions right behind Pour Decisions, the cleanest 4-way Open Class team, as the NSL News reported yesterday. RhEvolution XP and Skydive Midwest NEXT were separated by only three points, which is more than close enough to keep the excitement up for all ten rounds.

There was not one round that either of these two direct opponents were able to win by more than one single point, and RhEvolution XP defended the 3-point leader after the first three rounds successfully over the finish line. Both teams pushed each other to the new record averages for the current lineups.

Skydive Midwest NEXT started their current lineup with two new members at the end of last year, as the NSL News reported on 17 November 2022. The new lineup of RhEvolution XP was introduced with NSL Live Talk on July 23rd.

USPA Nationals 2023		1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open	O,E,C,Q,H		20,M,J,1		10,12,B		4,18,L		11,17,5		8,9,22		A,19,K,13		G,3,2		21,14,15		D,F,7,N		Total	Avg
1	Arizona Airspeed	43	-8	29		22		23	-1	28		21		26		23		20		33	-2	268	26.8
2	XPG4	46	-2	21		17		17		20		17	-1	23		18		17		29	-1	225	22.5
3	SDC Rhythm XP	48	-4	19		17		16		20		17		22		17	-1	16		25	-1	217	21.7
4	Golden Knights	39	-3	23		18		17	-1	21		17	-1	24		15	-2	14		28		216	21.6
5	Pour Decisions	35	-1	18		15		16		18		16		20		15		14		23	-1	190	19.0
6	RhEvolution XP	27	-4	19		13		15		16		15		16	-1	16		13		23		173	17.3
7	Skydive Midwest NEXT	26	-4	18	-1	12	-2	15		17		14		17		15		13		23		170	17.0
8	Spaceland Apex	22	-5	11	-1	11	-2	14		15		13	-2	19		14		13		22		154	15.4
9	Alti-2 Technologies	24	-1	12	-1	10		13		13		11	-1	14		11		11		18	-1	137	13.7
10	Rhetirement Party	21		12	-2	11		10	-1	8		12		13		12		10		17		126	12.6
11	Rippin Flatties	10	-4	4		3	-3	5		4	-3	4	-1	6		3		5		10	-3	54	5.4

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RhEvolution XP - Skydive Midwest NEXT at the USPA Nationals 2023, video footage courtesy of USPA/InTime

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Skydive Midwest NEXT and RhEvolution XP have had more in common than new lineups in 2023. Both teams have also won gold medals in USPA's Advanced Class, Skydive Midwest NEXT in 2016, RhEvolution XP last year. Skydive Midwest NEXT is still the only U.S. team that won the USPA Intermediate Class competition (2015) and Advanced Class gold medals (2016) in two consecutive years.

No current NEXT member was in the lineups of 2015/2016. Current senior member Greg Oldendick joined the team after a 3-year break and when the new lineup would compete in 4-way Open.

Lauren Byrd, Megan George and Chris Haslam were his first team mates at the Paraclete XP Indoor Championship 2020. Gorka Amian joined him a year later, Elliot Byrd was filming the team.

Gorka Amian was Chris Normandeau's team mate with RhEvolution XP when the team was founded in 2018. They competed together at three meets of the Midwest Skydiving League in 2018, and then finished in 2nd place of the Intermediate Class competition at the USPA Nationals the same year. RhEvolution XP of 2018 could not win the USPA silver medals, as Gorka Amian was not eligible, according to the USPA rules by then.

USPA Nationals 2018		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Intermediate Top 10	15,7	A,E,Q,M	11,9	1,22	J,P,F,8	2,20	13,O,K	B,D,6	4,G,14	21,N,19	C,L,H,18	Total	Avg
1	TSC Cadence	11	23	14	10	19	11	13	17	8	12	-	138	13.8
2	SDC RhEvolution XP	13	22	11	11	15	12	14	16	12	11	-	137	13.7
3	SDMW X	10	26	12	9	20	11	11	13	11	9	-	132	13.2
4	Hands Free	11	22	13	11	16	6	9	13	10	11	14	122	12.2
5	Cali4nia Kids	11	21	9	10	15	11	10	14	11	10	12	122	12.2
6	Platinum XP	10	20	12	9	14	9	10	15	10	10	-	119	11.9
7	The Mostly Asians	9	17	12	9	13	10	10	15	10	9	-	114	11.4
8	Carolina Ice XP	9	18	12	8	13	9	9	15	9	11	-	113	11.3
9	Spaceland Toxic	9	19	9	8	14	10	7	13	8	9	-	106	10.6
10	TSC Off Cadence	9	14	10	9	13	10	7	10	7	8	-	97	9.7

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TSC Cadence - RhEvolution XP at the USPA Nationals 2018, video footage courtesy of USPA/Omniskore

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The new RhEvolution XP lineup, now Chris Normandeau and Gorka Amian with Greg Oldendick and Jason Krumholz, Keith Nugent on camera, moved up to AAA/Advanced Class competition anyway and finished in 9th place on the 2019 leaderboard. Greg Oldendick and Gorka Amian both left RhEvolution XP at the end of the 2019 season, and both were back for Skydive Midwest NEXT in 2021.

Chris Normandeau rebuilt RhEvolution XP with three new members for the 2020 season and continued with Matt Alarif, Alex Bucevicius and Chris Webb until the USPA Nationals 2021, where they won silver medals in the AAA/Advanced Class. Chris Webb was then recruited by Doug Barron for his new SDC Rhythm XP lineup, and Matt Alarif did not continue either.

Chris Normandeau and Alex Bucevicius invited Christine Bruchac and Zachary Winoker for the 2022 season, with Radim Studeny on camera, and the new lineup won AAA/Advanced Class gold medals at the USPA Nationals last year. Chris Normandeau and Christine Bruchac then joined forces with Kim Hollander and hired GKXP8 member Andrew Happick as their player-coach for the 2023 season. Kim Hollander and Chris Normandeau also trained and competed with 8-way team Bra Nok, first at the outdoor world cup in Norway, followed by USPA Nationals. That's when and where former RhEvolution XP team mates Chris Normandeau, Gorka Amian and Greg Oldendick met for their internal 4-way showdown between RhEvolution XP and Skydive Midwest NEXT, which was just as exciting as it promised to be.