posted Sep 11th, 2020 - The Vega XP news of a few days ago found great interest in the Formation Skydiving competition community in the United States, even though the new lineup was not announced at that time.

Of course, returning members and team founders Annie and Ian Drennan have been busy with recruiting the new lineup ever since they knew that Nicholas Walker and Brandon Kashani would not be back with the team. It was not too long ago that the previous lineup was still training at Paraclete XP.

However, Annie and Ian Drennan used the time carefully since the NSL News visit at Paraclete XP in May, and since they knew that Nicholas Walker and Brandon Kashani would not continue. The two new Vega XP members have confirmed their commitments, and the first online team meeting took place in the meantime to outline a training plan.

Two highly experienced and successful 4-way competitors are joining Vega XP and will not slow down the consistent team progression. Andre Van Heerden is the new tail, and James Hall will take the outside center slot. Annie (point) and Ian Drennan (inside center) will continue in the slots that they have been training in the past years.

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Paraclete XP Indoor Championship 2020		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open/Advanced Combined	21,15,10	7,5,G	13,L,11	3,K,B,6	19,8,9	M,P,14,C	N,A,17,1	20,16,Q	F,22,D,H	0,2,4	Total	Avg
1	Arizona Airspeed	22	34	27	27	27	32	35	27	37	27	295	29.5
2	SDC Rhythm XP	23	35	26	25	26	34	31	25	35	27	287	28.7
3	Golden Knights Gold	21	28	24	24	25	28	29	22	29	24	254	25.4
4	Skydive Midwest NEXT	17	24	20	23	21	29	24	20	27	19	224	22.4
5	Befokte Dose	15	24	20	24	19	28	23	20	27	19	219	21.9
6	XPG4	16	24	21	23	19	30	20	18	24	20	215	21.5
7	Vega XP	15	22	19	21	20	28	21	17	27	19	209	20.9
8	Aviatrixx	16	22	18	21	20	23	20	18	24	19	201	20.1
9	Flying Spaghetti Monsters	16	24	19	19	19	26	22	16	22	17	200	20.0
10	Golden Knights Black	16	20	18	17	18	22	20	14	22	18	185	18.5
11	Lucky Chris	15	19	17	19	18	22	19	15	21	17	182	18.2
12	Platinum XP	13	18	15	16	19	23	19	13	20	13	169	16.9
13	Air Force Apollo	15	18	14	17	17	20	18	14	22	14	169	16.9
14	Dramatic Pause	13	16	16	17	16	21	15	14	21	17	166	16.6
15	Air Force Angels	13	18	16	15	15	22	17	15	19	15	165	16.5

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Befokte Dose - Vega XP - Flying Spaghetti Monsters at the Paraclete XP Indoor Championship 2020

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The new team mates know each other well from previous meets. In fact, Andre Van Heerden was Vega XP's direct opponent on the Advanced Class leaderboard of the Paraclete XP Indoor Championship 2020. He finished ahead of his future team with Befokte Dose, who competed in the 4-way Open Class, while Vega XP was ahead of his second team, Flying Spaghetti Monsters, on the Advanced Class leaderboard.

Andre Van Heerden brings international meet experiences to his new team. He was a member of the South African national 4-way team Savolo for several years and competed at the FAI Outdoor World Meet 2014. Then he joined U.S. team Lite XP in 2016 and was still in the Lite lineup at the USPA Nationals 2019, where the team finished with a 17.9 average.

All four new Vega XP team mates competed with three different teams at last year's national championship. Andre Van Heerden posted his scores on the Open Class leaderboard, while Vega XP was a new medal contender in USPA's Advanced Class at the end of the team's second AAA Class year.

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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

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Lite XP - Redline XP - Vega XP at the USPA Nationals 2019

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James Hall ended up shortly behind Andre Van Heerden on the combined Open/Advanced Class leaderboard. He had spent a year with Arizona Airspeed's multiple 4-way and 8-way world champion Kirk Verner as the player-coach for Redline XP and won the Advanced Class competition with his team. He also collected his first international meet experiences when he competed with the Monster 8-way team at the FAI Outdoor World Cup 2019.

James Hall went even a step further after USPA Nationals and FAI World Cup in 2019. He visited Paraclete XP on the same weekend when Vega XP was training with Niklas Hemlin in the windtunnel. SDC Rhythm XP had invited him to participate in the tryout for the open inside center slot. Christy Frikken eventually became the new Rhythm member, and James Hall will try to defend his Advanced Class title. USPA rules allow one team member of a winning team to compete again in the same category.

Andre Van Heerden with Lite XP and James Hall with Redline XP both left Annie and Ian Drennan with Vega XP far behind with their meet averages. The Vega XP goals will probably include a new Advanced Class record average that James Hall posted last year with Redline XP, and Andre Van Heerden must have an 18+ average in his mind, as well...