posted Jan 21st, 2018 - It was at the USPA Nationals 2015 when Ranch 2nd Generation and Spaceland Lite competed for the first time at the same event.

The Texas team was already well settled on the 4-way Open Class leaderboards of the national championships after winning USPA Advanced Class gold medals in 2011.

The first R2G lineup of 2015 (Brenn Richards, Christopher Kuhlmann, Joey Marshall, Dean Van Tassell, Kamuran Bayrasli on camera) finished in 16th place on the AA/Intermediate Class leaderboard with a 9.1 average, while Spaceland Lite battled with other recreational U.S. 4-way teams behind the pros in the Open Class.

Both teams were still separated and in different categories (AAA - A) when they met a few months later at SkyVenture New Hampshire's annual indoor competition. Michelle Karamon had joined the team and taken the inside center slot in January 2016. R2G won in the A Class with a 24.0 average.

Spaceland Lite finished in 6th place on the AAA Class leaderboard with a 15.6 average. Cocked Nut, a modified Mass Defiance lineup with host and organizer Ben Liston, won the AAA Class competition at SkyVenture New Hampshire.

SVNH Indoor 2018		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class	3,F,E,14	16,N,9	K,17,J,L	10,P,6	G,D,C,5	7,21,B	M,O,22,9	18,A,Q,H	H,7,15	14,M,,O,20	J,21,K,G	Total	Avg
1	R2G	21	24	32	22	30	28	23	24	27	23	-	254	25.4
2	Spaceland Lite	21	19	29	17	27	23	23	19	19	16	-	213	21.3
3	Nik’s Angels	19	20	23	16	21	21	18	18	20	17	22	193	19.3
4	Defiance	19	21	18	16	21	22	21	18	19	18	19	193	19.3
5	#Chipmunks	15	18	15	13	14	16	15	12	15	18	-	151	15.1
6	Fly Girls	11	12	14	13	16	18	15	12	16	14	-	141	14.1
7	Fabio’s Angels	12	13	12	8	16	13	15	5	15	10	-	119	11.9

There was no A Class leaderboard at the Paraclete XP Indoor Championship 2016 two months later, and R2G stepped back up into the AA/Intermediate Class.

Spaceland Lite was once again at the same event in the AAA/Open Class and up to a 17.7 average. R2G won the AA/Intermediate Class gold medals at Paraclete with a 20.5 average.

Then it became more serious, as R2G took on the whole dive pool the same year. Spaceland Lite could still escape the charge of Ranch's new 4-way generation at the USPA Nationals 2016.

However, R2G had caught up and matched Spaceland Lite's 15.0 average in Eloy. The competition draw is identical between USPA's Open and Advanced categories.

The first direct confrontation happened at last year's indoor competition at SkyVenture New Hampshire. Spaceland Lite competed for the first time with the new lineup (Dave Grabowski, Kim Hollander, Katrina Shows, Andre Van Heerden) and increased the team's performance level significantly to a 20.2 average.

It was still not enough to stop the new Ranch generation from taking over. R2G won with a 21.7 average last year.

USPA Nationals 2016		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way AAA/Open/Advanced	20,D,E,22	M,9,5	12,8,7	H,L,16,15	F,A,N,J,17	G,6,3	K,B,Q,P,C	18,10,11	13,21,4	14,1,19	Total	Avg
1	Arizona Airspeed	22	37	21	24	39	21	47	16	18	20	265	26.5
2	SDC Rhythm XP	23	35	19	19	28	19	45	14	17	19	238	23.8
3	Golden Knights	20	24	18	24	33	19	38	14	15	18	223	22.3
4	AARsPeed	19	28	17	13	28	17	33	15	15	17	202	20.2
5	Mass Defiance	17	23	17	16	28	17	33	12	14	15	192	19.2
6	Arizona Alpha	18	27	15	19	26	16	29	12	14	14	190	19.0
7	SDMW NEXT	16	21	12	13	26	16	31	11	14	9	169	16.9
8	Perris Kiss	15	19	13	15	22	15	30	11	13	13	166	16.6
9	Alliance	14	21	13	11	21	15	25	12	12	13	157	15.7
10	Spaceland Lite	13	19	10	11	22	14	28	11	10	12	150	15.0
10	Ranch 2nd Generation	13	17	13	15	20	14	24	11	13	10	150	15.0

Both teams were back again at the Paraclete XP Indoor Championship 2017 where they had to go through the complete AAA Class dive pool of a 10-round indoor meet, after the meet with the reduced dive pool at SkyVenture New Hampshire. R2G still maintained the upper hand (20.6 - 19.2) over Spaceland Lite.

R2G attended two more meets before it was time again for an indirect duel at the USPA Nationals 2017. R2G still wanted the USPA gold medals in the AAA/Advanced Class and won them easily (16.4 - 15.2) over the Storm team of the Air Force Academy. Fast4ward XP was a guest team at the national championships.

Spaceland Lite finished with a new team record average in Perris (16.0) which was still not enough to hold off R2G on the other leaderboard.

Finally, this weekend's indoor competition at SkyVenture New Hampshire brought both teams back together on the same leaderboard. Spaceland Lite once again finished with a new team record indoor average (21.3) and right behind R2G. However, it was not even a competition for the top spot any longer, as R2G posted a 25.4 average. Next step will be the first outdoor competition between two former USPA Advanced Class champions together in the same category - the Open Class competition at the USPA Nationals 2018...

USPA Nationals 2017			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way AAA/Open/Advanced		O,4,9	G,21,A,H	N,D,J,14	L,16,12	K,19,6	E,2,10	P,11,15	17,3,22	F,7,1	Q,5,M,20	Total	Avg
1	NMP PCH HayaBusa	BE	31	33	28	23	25	23	23	22	31	31	270	27.0
2	Arizona Airspeed	US	27	32	29	22	24	22	21	23	29	29	258	25.8
3	SDC Rhythm XP	US	29	31	28	23	22	20	23	19	28	29	252	25.2
4	Golden Knights	US	24	26	28	22	18	19	20	19	24	23	223	22.3
5	Airspeed Odyssey	US	25	23	27	19	22	19	19	17	23	23	217	21.7
6	Defiance	US	24	24	26	18	19	17	19	16	24	22	209	20.9
7	GKBC	US	24	19	24	15	17	17	18	16	23	20	193	19.3
8	Dallas 350	US	18	23	24	16	16	16	16	11	22	19	181	18.1
9	ISR FireFlash	BE	21	22	19	14	17	16	14	16	20	19	178	17.8
10	SDMW NEXT XP	US	15	25	17	17	15	16	16	15	23	14	173	17.3
11	Ranch 2nd Generation	US	18	20	17	15	16	14	15	14	18	17	164	16.4
12	Spaceland Lite	US	19	22	19	12	17	14	13	8	19	17	160	16.0
12	Fast4ward XP	US	17	19	19	14	16	15	13	13	19	15	160	16.0
14	Phoenix XP	US	16	18	19	13	13	13	14	14	15	17	152	15.2
14	AF Storm	US	17	16	17	14	16	14	12	12	17	17	152	15.2