posted Oct 2nd, 2020 - It was only a few days ago when the NSL News reported the lineup change of Skydive Midwest NEXT. The story mentioned that there was a connection between the team and Indoor Cloud League activities at Paraclete XP, ICL Midwest and ICL Capital Region.

The direct connection to the earlier update came when SDMW NEXT member Lauren Byrd submitted the September scores and videos of the ICL Midwest team. Her new lineup, with Gorka Amian in the tail slot for Chris Haslam, performed the AAA sequence for the ICL Midwest team, and it was an impressive start.

The 26-pointer for the slot-switching sequence, with Block 5 (Opal - Opal) at the end, is a world-class result, which is three points higher than the 23-pointer of the HF Cubs at the Hurricane Factory.

The August competition of the Indoor Cloud League had already featured an exciting battle for the highest total in the combined AAA/AA Open Class categories. XPG4, HF Cubs and SDMW NEXT with the previous lineup were separated by only two points for both sequences (51 - 50 - 49). XPG4 won this mini meet by one point, and the same trio will most likely copy the exciting August competition as soon as all scores and videos for September are available.

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Indoor Cloud League September 2020 - ICL Midwest	AAA	AA	A	RRR	RR	R	Total
Teams	A,4,L,5	H,4,21	H,C,19	H,C,K	M,A,L	M,H	Total
SDMW NEXT	26	-	-	-	-	-	26
Megan George, Lauren Byrd, Greg Oldendick, Laurent Beaudouin	-	22	-	-	-	-	22
Lauren Byrd, Katie Healy, Aga Horoszko, Eric Bambach	-	-	20	-	-	-	20
Thomas Holan, Daniel Gizynski, Jacob Larsen, Greg Oldendick	-	-	-	16	-	-	16
Lauren Byrd, Nicole Land, Joe Werner, Laurent Beaudouin	-	-	-	-	23	23	46	-
ICL Midwest's Best of September	26	22	20	16	23	23	130

It was not the complete SDMW NEXT lineup though who performed the second sequence (AA) of this Open Class combination. New member Gorka Amian was only in the AAA Class lineup. Megan George, Lauren Byrd and Greg Oldendick had Laurent Beaudouin in their lineup for the AA sequence.

The former SDC Rhythm XP member of the team's first years (2007 - 2009) was also assisting Lauren Byrd as the second player-coach for one of the two Rookie Class lineups (R - RR). Together they guided Nicole Land and Joe Werner to the two 23-pointers in these ICL categories.

SDMW NEXT's Outside Center Greg Oldendick completed the set of Rookie Class sequences together with Thomas Holan, Daniel Gizynski and Jacob Larsen with the 16-pointer for the RRR sequence. Lauren Byrd was also the player-coach for the A Class lineup who outscored the Czech HF Invisible juniors by one point.

The ICL Midwest team has attracted over 20 participants to their 4-way events of the Indoor Cloud League in only two months, with several new participants again in September.

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Indoor Cloud League 2020			AAA	AA	A	RRR	RR	R	Total
Rank	September 14+		A,4,L,5	H,4,21	H,C,19	H,C,K	M,A,L	M,H	Total
1	ICL Midwest	US	26	22	20	16	23	23	130
2	Hurricane Factory	CZ	23	22	23	15	17	23	123

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ICL Midwest - Hurricane Factory in September 2020

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The 26-pointer for the AAA sequence is the first score posted by the new SDMW NEXT lineup, and it stands for a very promising starting position. The NSL News had mentioned in 2017 that SDMW NEXT XP was "following the SDC Rhythm XP path very accurately".

NEXT had followed up on the USPA Advanced Class gold medals of 2016 with a 17+ average a year later on the 4-way Open Class leaderboard. Unfortunately, the Midwest team did not continue at that time and before they could go after the unofficial title of the best 4-way amateur team in the United States.

Northeast/New England team Mass Defiance, USPA Advanced Class champions of 2005, have held this title for many years and confirmed it regularly on the 4-way Open Class leaderboards of the national championships, including the last one in 2019. In fact, SDMW NEXT witnessed the highest Defiance meet average at their last USPA Nationals in 2017.

Nick Grillet, James Klinge, Ben Liston and Brian Stephens, with Patrick Walker on camera, had finished with 20.9 in 2017 when NEXT finished with 17.3 in Perris. However, NEXT was actually ahead of Mass Defiance, who had posted a 16.7 average at their first USPA Nationals in the 4-way Open Class. There might be a new challenger for the reigning unofficial U.S. amateur champions...