posted Oct 24th, 2019 - Defiance and SNE Fly Girls were two teams from New England who recently competed at the FAI Outdoor World Cup. Both teams had also attended the USPA Nationals in September, and both teams turned out be the third strongest U.S. team in their respective categories.

Defiance won the USPA bronze medals in the 4-way Open Class, while only the combined AAA Class leaderboard of the Open and Advanced Class is showing that SNE Fly Girls would finish in 3rd place of the 4-way Women category. The all-female teams don't have their own separate leaderboard and have to compete in the Open Class if they want to qualify for the FAI world cups or world meets in the following year.

Only one U.S. team will compete in 4-way Women at the FAI World Meet next year, and there was no need for SNE Fly Girls to sign up for the Open Class competition, where Aviatrix and Perris Force battled it out for the one slot in the U.S. delegation. SNE Fly Girls posted their scores on the Advanced Class leaderboard where they were the only all-female team.

There was still a third team from New England who copied the previous two official and unofficial bronze medal positions at the USPA Nationals.

---

USPA Nationals 2019			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open/4-way Advanced		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	Total	Avg
1	NMP-PCH Hayabusa	BE	45	24	27	37	21	25	34	25	26	25	289	28.9
2	SDC Rhythm XP	US	41	22	21	33	21	23	27	25	24	25	262	26.2
3	Arizona Airspeed	US	40	24	22	32	19	24	29	25	21	26	262	26.2
4	Defiance	US	30	21	15	28	16	19	22	21	18	18	208	20.8
5	Ranch 2nd Generation	US	26	19	19	24	16	17	24	18	19	19	201	20.1
6	Kinetix	AU	26	18	17	22	13	17	18	17	17	17	182	18.2
7	Lite XP	US	24	17	17	22	15	17	20	16	14	17	179	17.9
8	Redline XP	US	19	17	16	21	14	16	21	17	17	17	175	17.5
9	Elsinore Elevate	US	23	14	14	22	15	17	19	14	14	16	168	16.8
10	No Name	US	22	17	14	19	12	13	14	15	14	16	156	15.6
10	SNE CenterCell XP	US	23	14	14	18	14	11	18	15	14	15	156	15.6
12	Air Force Shadow	US	20	15	13	21	10	13	18	15	15	13	153	15.3
13	Vega XP	US	21	14	14	21	14	13	15	16	11	12	151	15.1
14	Aviatrixx	US	21	14	13	18	12	15	17	14	12	14	150	15.0
15	AZ Crime	US	19	13	14	17	11	12	18	15	13	11	143	14.3
15	Air Force Boomers	US	20	14	12	15	13	10	16	15	14	14	143	14.3
17	Perris Force	US	20	13	14	18	11	11	18	13	12	12	142	14.2
17	Arizona Alpha	US	21	14	14	17	14	11	14	14	9	14	142	14.2
19	SDC Rhevolution XP	US	17	14	12	16	12	13	14	14	13	13	138	13.8
20	Space Force BTR	US	18	14	13	18	11	11	18	14	10	10	137	13.7
21	SNE Fly Girls	US	18	12	13	14	11	13	14	13	12	8	128	12.8
22	Chill: Bu	US	18	13	11	17	9	11	14	13	11	10	127	12.7
23	Perris Goldilocks and 4 Bears	US	16	11	10	15	10	10	12	10	12	10	116	11.6
24	TSC Cadence	US	14	9	12	14	10	11	12	12	12	9	115	11.5
25	Fast Break	US	15	10	10	12	10	12	14	8	10	11	112	11.2
26	Paragon	US	13	7	11	12	9	8	12	10	7	9	98	9.8
27	AZ Shift	US	9	9	9	13	9	9	10	11	8	8	95	9.5
28	Perris Section 4	US	15	8	9	11	8	6	10	10	9	8	94	9.4

---

SNE CenterCell XP won the USPA bronze medals in the Advanced Class, and the team is from the same region. Outdoor training takes place at Skydive New England, indoor training at SkyVenture New Hampshire and Paraclete XP.

Team member Brian Touhey was an instrumental Indoor Cloud League organizer in the early days. He joined the project in its second season with a SkyVenture New Hampshire team, after iFLY Orlando and iFLY Seattle opened up their indoor duel to other participating teams. He continued into the 2016 season before stepping back.

In the meantime, Ben Liston had turned his indoor competition at SkyVenture New Hampshire into one of the most popular 4-way events in the United States, and Brian Touhey participated regularly, together with his wife Colleen and his other current team mate Jeff Atherton. Several other current 4-way competitors in New England, including SNE Fly Girls members, went through his teams and lineups in the past years.

His own team, which is registered as "DeOrbit Burn" in the NSL News database, has used several other names at 4-way meets in the recent years. However, Colleen and Brian Touhey and Jeff Atherton are still in the current lineup, together with newest member Brian Boyle.

---

USPA Nationals 2019		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Advanced 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	Total	Avg
1	Redline XP	19	17	16	21	14	16	21	17	17	17	175	17.5
2	Elsinore Elevate	23	14	14	22	15	17	19	14	14	16	168	16.8
3	SNE CenterCell XP	23	14	14	18	14	11	18	15	14	15	156	15.6
4	Air Force Shadow	20	15	13	21	10	13	18	15	15	13	153	15.3
5	Vega XP	21	14	14	21	14	13	15	16	11	12	151	15.1
6	AZ Crime	19	13	14	17	11	12	18	15	13	11	143	14.3
6	Air Force Boomers	20	14	12	15	13	10	16	15	14	14	143	14.3
8	Arizona Alpha	21	14	14	17	14	11	14	14	9	14	142	14.2
9	SDC Rhevolution XP	17	14	12	16	12	13	14	14	13	13	138	13.8
10	Space Force BTR	18	14	13	18	11	11	18	14	10	10	137	13.7
11	SNE Fly Girls	18	12	13	14	11	13	14	13	12	8	128	12.8
12	Chill: Bu	18	13	11	17	9	11	14	13	11	10	127	12.7
13	Perris Goldilocks and 4 Bears	16	11	10	15	10	10	12	10	12	10	116	11.6
14	TSC Cadence	14	9	12	14	10	11	12	12	12	9	115	11.5
15	Fast Break	15	10	10	12	10	12	14	8	10	11	112	11.2
16	Paragon	13	7	11	12	9	8	12	10	7	9	98	9.8
17	AZ Shift	9	9	9	13	9	9	10	11	8	8	95	9.5
18	Perris Section 4	15	8	9	11	8	6	10	10	9	8	94	9.4

SNE CenterCell XP - Air Force Shadow - Vega XP at the USPA Nationals 2019 - Video Footage Courtesy of USPA/OmniSkore!HD

---

The current lineup posted the team's highest outdoor average at the USPA Nationals and was rewarded with the Advanced Class bronze medals after an exciting battle with Air Force Shadow and Vega XP.

The three teams were not able to keep up with the gold and silver medalists, who were guided by two 4-way world champions as player coaches, Kirk Verner with Redline XP in 1st place, and Josh Hall with Elsinore Elevate in 2nd place. However, they pushed each other to their peak performances round by round, and Vega XP posted a new team record average, as well.

Each of the three teams claimed or tied five highscores between each other, which shows how tight this battle was. The same three teams were separated by only two points going into Round 10, and SNE CenterCell XP wrapped it up with the 15-pointer in Round 10.

The three teams behind the player-coach lineups were on their own. Air Force Shadow had their own full-time coach with former Airspeed member Andy Honigbaum, while SNE CenterCell XP and Vega XP are self-made teams, who get help and advice randomly from coaches and experienced 4-way competitors. All three teams will still be eligible for USPA Advanced Class medals next year...