posted Nov 18th, 2025 - Several teams behind the medal contenders on the 4-way Open Class leaderboard of the USPA Nationals 2025 had former world champions or other world-class competitors as player-coaches in their lineups, although the three OG's (Jack Jefferies, Kirk Verner, Dan BC) probably did not have much current technical advice for Jeana Billings, herself a reigning 4-way Women and 8-way world champion.

The NSL News also mentioned Josh Hall of Elsinore Elevate earlier, Arizona Airspeed world champion of 2012, and the Double D's of Double Trouble with Brenn Richards and Keith Conner. Robert Compton of Rhetirement Rhedux had actually three player-coaches with Christy Frikken, JaNette and Steve Lefkowitz.

Two more player-coaches, Michelle Karamon and Craig Girard competed with Inertia AZ, even though Laura Galdamez was already a member of the last XPG4 lineup at the FAI Indoor World Championship 2025. There she won the bronze medals in 4-way Women together with her Inertia team mate Michelle Karamon. 4th Inertia member Sean Moorhead had to step up from AAA/Advanced Class competition in 2024 to the 4-way Open Class, according to the USPA eligibility rules. His previous team Air Raid XP became the winner of the AAA/Advanced Class at the USPA Nationals 2024 when Chicken Bolts in 1st place could not accept their gold medals. The Inertia AZ lineup also included one of the world's best 4-way videographers, Taylor Buffington, and alternate Jennifer Davidson.

USPA Nationals 2025			1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open		O,4,5		21,12,22		6,J,H,G		N,2,20		L,13,A,F		7,19,M		1,14,18		9,10,15		17,E,8		C,3,P,K		Total	Avg
G	Aethers Lille	FR	23	-1	19		33		23		34		26		18		21		23	-1	30	-1	250	25.0
1	Golden Knights	US	21	-3	19		29		22		36		26		19		19	-2	26		28		245	24.5
2	Arizona Airspeed	US	24		17		27		19		29		23		15		17		22		23	-1	216	21.6
3	SDC Rhythm XP	US	19		14	-1	27		19		26	-1	22		15		16		19		19	-5	196	19.6
4	Elsinore Elevate	US	17	-1	14		23		17		26		21		15		16		19		21		189	18.9
5	Inertia AZ	US	16	-1	14	-1	24		16	-1	25		20		14		16		12	-5	20		177	17.7
6	The OGs	US	17		9	-3	21	-1	15	-1	21	-2	18		13		12	-2	16	-1	18	-2	160	16.0
7	Redline XP	US	14	-1	10	-1	18		14		22		13	-3	12		12		17		15	-1	147	14.7
8	Ranch TNT	US	13	-3	11		21		13		18		16	-1	11		12		14		12	-2	141	14.1
8	Double Trouble	US	14		11		18		12	-1	18		15		12		12		13	-1	16		141	14.1
10	Rhetirement Rhedux	US	10	-2	7	-3	16		11	-1	17		14	-1	9	-1	8	-2	10	-1	14		118	11.8
11	XP Angels	US	11	-1	9	-1	15	-2	11	-2	16	-1	13		10		7	-2	13	-1	12		117	11.7

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Inertia AZ at the USPA Nationals 2025

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The name of the team in 6th place of the 4-way Open Class leaderboard was not new, as the NSL News mentioned in the preview of the USPA Nationals on October 14th. Inertia AZ were expected to compete for the 6th place, while they could not catch Elsinore Elevate with Josh Hall. They still left Redline XP behind and outscored the Airspeed celebrities of the OG's lineup.

The actual team name goes back by 25 years, as Lou Ascione, Eric Asendorf, James Browning, Malcolm Gareau and Shane Rex on camera competed at two USPA Nationals in 2000 and 2001. Craig Girard must have liked the team name, as he was familiar with it. He competed twice at the same event with Airspeed Vertical (John Eagle, Neal Houston, Mark Kirkby, Mark Steinbaugh on camera) when Inertia posted their scores on the Advanced Class leaderboards.

Inertia finished 11th on the Advanced Class leaderboard of 2000 when Craig Girard won the USPA gold medals in 4-way Open with Airspeed Vertical and qualified for the next outdoor world championship. Airspeed Vertical won the FAI gold medals a year later by two points and then defended the USPA top spot successfully a few months later by two points over the Golden Knights. Inertia were up to the 5th place in 4-way Advanced at the same event with a 12.8 average. The Inertia lineup at the USPA Nationals this year finished in the 6th place with a 17.7 average on the 4-way Open Class leaderboard.

USPA Nationals 2001		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way AAA/Open/Advanced	6,F,18	7,17,22	G,21,3	M,N,P,16	2,Q,1	12,4,19	H,14,L,15	B,24,J,23	9,A,8	C,5,E,10	Total	Avg
1	Arizona Airspeed Vertical	21	17	21	23	24	19	20	23	24	21	213	21.3
2	Golden Knights Gold	21	20	18	22	24	17	23	23	23	20	211	21.1
3	Arizona Airspeed Zulu	19	18	18	24	21	17	20	21	21	14	193	19.3
4	DeLand PD Blue	21	18	18	15	21	16	20	22	23	17	191	19.1
5	Elsinore Matrix	19	18	17	23	20	11	18	19	21	12	178	17.8
6	Endeavour	16	15	17	19	16	14	14	17	19	17	164	16.4
7	Touch of Magic	14	15	16	17	19	13	14	17	17	17	159	15.9
8	Identity Crisis	16	14	13	19	19	13	15	15	18	13	155	15.5
9	Optic Nerve	15	15	17	15	17	13	13	17	18	8	148	14.8
9	Synchronicity	15	13	11	16	17	13	13	17	19	14	148	14.8
11	Nemesis	14	12	13	12	14	10	14	16	17	13	135	13.5
12	Arizona Fast 4ward	14	13	13	14	16	9	14	12	16	13	134	13.4
13	Arizona Inertia	13	11	13	14	15	11	12	14	14	11	128	12.8
14	RPM	14	10	9	14	16	11	13	14	14	12	127	12.7
15	Golden Knights Black	14	8	12	11	16	11	12	14	16	11	125	12.5
16	Cross Connect	10	11	10	14	12	11	11	14	14	11	118	11.8
17	Flash	11	9	9	14	14	10	11	13	14	11	116	11.6
17	Angry Beez	14	9	8	13	16	9	9	15	16	7	116	11.6
19	Perris Centerpoint	12	11	12	13	13	11	9	12	12	10	115	11.5
20	Elsinore Enigma	10	8	11	11	13	10	12	12	14	10	111	11.1
21	Convergence	12	7	8	12	14	11	11	11	13	9	108	10.8
22	Air Brush	9	8	10	13	10	9	11	12	13	11	106	10.6
23	Ranch Equinox	11	7	8	13	14	8	10	9	9	11	100	10.0
24	Crosskeys Jetstream	8	10	8	13	12	8	11	11	10	7	98	9.8
25	American Flyers	13	6	8	9	9	11	11	9	11	10	97	9.7
26	DeLand Silver	11	4	9	12	11	11	9	10	11	6	94	9.4
27	Perris Time Warp	8	10	9	8	11	9	9	11	10	7	92	9.2
27	Mr. Pink	9	6	8	9	13	10	7	13	8	9	92	9.2
29	Back Draft	10	6	9	11	9	9	7	11	12	6	90	9.0
30	Just In Time	9	8	8	11	10	8	8	10	9	8	89	8.9
31	Millennium Alpha	9	8	8	9	11	6	9	10	9	8	87	8.7
32	Monomania	9	7	9	9	11	8	9	7	9	7	85	8.5
33	Lodi 499	9	8	9	10	10	6	8	9	9	5	83	8.3
34	Expedition 2001	9	8	8	10	7	6	8	7	10	9	82	8.2
35	Ranch Avgas	10	7	5	7	8	9	9	7	10	7	79	7.9
35	Carolina Verve	10	7	5	9	11	6	8	10	10	3	79	7.9
37	Aerohio Sin-Force	5	9	5	7	10	7	9	11	5	8	76	7.6