posted Feb 18th, 2024 - The NSL News reported the recent personnel change for the U.S. national team in 4-way Women on February 16th. The update provided some details of new member Jennifer Davidson's career, which included the outdoor world championship title of 2016 in 4-way Women.

It is an interesting fact that Jennifer Davidson is the only XPG4 member who has won a gold medal in 4-way Women so far. It is very likely that the complete XPG4 lineup will be in possession of 4-way Women gold medals at the end of this year. However, it would be the first one for Michelle Karamon, Jeana Billings and Brenn Richards, even though they have been training and competing together since 2021.

Two outdoor world championships have gone by since the team was formed and since Michelle Karamon, Jeana Billings and Brenn Richards started their time together at the Paraclete XP Indoor Championship 2021. They were far ahead of Aviatrixx (227 - 183) who would compete for the U.S. delegation at the FAI Tanay Mondial half a year later. They may have even had a chance to challenge the strong 4-way Women teams from Russia and France. However, Aviatrixx had earned their slot in the U.S. delegation for the outdoor world championship at the USPA Nationals 2019, where they outscored the other 4-way Women team, Perris Force with player-coach Christy Frikken. It was the same U.S. national outdoor championship where SDC Rhythm XP qualified as the national team in 4-way Open.

USPA Nationals 2019			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		11		Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open Class		7,C,H,P		J,21,20		O,3,11		B,2,K,E		8,Q,10		15,D,F,12		N,L,M,14		6,1,9		A,18,13		G,4,5		17,16,22		Total	Avg
1	NMP-PCH Hayabusa	BE	45	-1	24		27		37		21		25		34		25	-1	26	-1	25	-4	-		289	28.9
2	SDC Rhythm XP	US	41		22		21	-1	33		21		23		27		25		24		25		21	-1	262	26.2
3	Arizona Airspeed	US	40	-1	24		22	-2	32		19	-2	24		29		25		21	-2	26	-1	20	-2	262	26.2
4	Defiance	US	30	-1	21		15	-4	28		16		19		22	-3	21		18	-1	18	-1	-		208	20.8
5	Ranch 2nd Generation	US	26		19		19		24	-2	16	-1	17	-1	24		18	-1	19		19		-		201	20.1
6	Kinetix	AU	26		18		17		22		13	-1	17		18	-1	17		17		17		-		182	18.2
7	Lite XP	US	24	-1	17		17		22		15		17		20	-2	16	-1	14		17		-		179	17.9
8	No Name	US	22	-4	17		14		19	-2	12	-2	13		14	-3	15		14		16		-		156	15.6
9	Aviatrixx	US	21		14		13	-1	18	-1	12	-2	15		17	-1	14	-1	12		14		-		150	15.0
10	Perris Force	US	20		13	-1	14		18		11	-1	11		18	-1	13	-1	12		12	-1	-		142	14.2

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Aviatrixx - Perris Force at the USPA Nationals 2019, Video Footage Courtesy of USPA/Omniskore

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XPG4 were already in training and competition action at that time, after former R2G team mates Michelle Karamon and Jeana Billings had formed the new team for the Paraclete XP Indoor Championship 2019, with Katrina Autry Shows and Morgan Womble in the lineup, who then won bronze medals with the U.S. delegation a few months later at the FAI Indoor World Championship.

However, Michelle Karamon, Jeana Billings, Morgan Womble and Katrina Autry Shows did not compete together again at the USPA Nationals the same year. Michelle Karamon and Jeana Billings attended their last meet with Ranch 2nd Generation, before Christopher Kuhlmann and Joey Marshall were recruited by Niklas Hemlin and Mikhail Markine for the new Arizona Airspeed lineup.

Michelle Karamon and Jeana Billings had already been selected for the new Paraclete XP8 lineup in 2018, where they eventually won their two world championship 8-way titles in 2021 and 2022. XPG4 was qualified as the U.S. national indoor team in 4-way Women, while they still had to win the official outdoor qualification before being eligible for outdoor world championships. That happened at the next USPA Nationals in 2021, where Michelle Karamon, Jeana Billings, Morgan Womble and Brenn Richards finished as the best 4-way Women team, with Andres Mesa on camera. Original R2G member Brenn Richards had joined XPG4 in the meantime.

USPA Nationals 2021		1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open	13,5,D		Q,9,4		F,14,C,10		H,L,20,N		18,22,19		11,J,E,8		6,7,K		G,15,12		M,2,21		16,A,P,O		Total	Avg
1	Arizona Airspeed	22	-2	28	-1	24		30		18	-1	25		26		20		24		35		252	25.2
2	SDC Rhythm XP	26		24	-4	21	-2	27	-1	19		23		26		21		24	-1	29		240	24.0
3	Golden Knights Gold	21		26		20		25	-1	16		23		21		17		16	-1	25	-1	210	21.0
4	The Jets	16	-1	20	-1	18		22		14		17		21		16		19		24		187	18.7
5	Skydive Midwest NEXT	18		21		18		20		14	-1	18		20		14		18		21	-1	182	18.2
6	XPG4	16		19		15	-2	22		13		19		18		14		18		21		175	17.5
7	Elsinore Bullet	16		18	-1	17		20	-1	12	-1	18		18		14		18		22		173	17.3
8	Aviatrixx	13		16		14		12	-3	10	-1	13		13		10	-1	14		16	-1	131	13.1
9	Golden Knights Black	12	-1	12	-3	14		13	-1	11		13		12		10		13	-2	16	-1	126	12.6

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XPG4 - Aviatrixx at the USPA Nationals 2021, Video Footage Courtesy of USPA/Omniskore

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The three former R2G members, Michelle Karamon, Jeana Billings and Brenn Richards, have trained and competed together ever since. They had to replace Morgan Womble with Anna Brunner at the end of the 2021 season, and the new lineup was not ready to outscore NFTO (Great Britain) and Nephtys (France) at the 25th FAI World Formation Skydiving Championships 2022, where Michelle Karamon and Jeana Billings won their second 8-way gold medals.

This changed in 2023 when the same XPG4 lineup outscored NFTO at the 4th FAI World Indoor Skydiving Championship and moved into striking distance to the Nephtys' indoor lineup for the event. The French outdoor lineup did not even get close to XPG4 when the U.S. team took the world's top spot in 4-way Women at the 23rd FAI World Cup of Formation Skydiving in Norway.

XPG4 followed up with the 2nd place and a new team record average at the USPA Nationals 2023. Not even the Golden Knights 4-way Women team at their peak level finished in a 2nd place at U.S. national outdoor championships, and it was still the end of the lineup with inside center Anna Brunner. Jennifer Davidson experienced a similar situation as with XPG4 with the Golden Knights, when SDC Rhythm XP's JaNette Lefkowitz substituted successfully for Angela Nichols with half a year of time before the world championship in 2016. Christy Frikken did the same later for JaNette Lefkowitz and SDC Rhythm XP before the world championship in 2021. Jennifer Davidson will have her own half-year with XPG4 to get ready for the 26th FAI World Formation Skydiving Championships 2024.