posted Sep 16th, 2026 - The number of 20 teams across the three 8-way categories matches last year's participation at Skydive Arizona. However, Skydive Perris has a different atmosphere after the completion of the 4-way competition, including the award ceremony yesterday evening. It is almost a recreational atmosphere, even though serious 8-way competition is now underway.

Last year's national outdoor championship was also the first and only outdoor competition for the new XP8 lineup. Only two reigning 8-way world champions, Jeana Billings and Kirk Verner, were back, together with Jennifer Davidson, the 2018 8-way world champion, and five new members of the active lineup: Jill Stephenson, James Hall, Carl Kallgren IV, Brandon Kashani, and Ian Pedowitz, with Kevin Penn on camera.

The new XP8 lineup won the national outdoor championship and qualification for the FAI Outdoor World Championship 2026 by a comfortable 25-point margin (173–148) over a joint 8-way pickup lineup combining current Golden Knights and Arizona Airspeed members. Michelle Karamon was not yet an Airspeed member at the time, even though she competed in 8-way with her future teammates Joey Marshall, Doug Hendrix, and Alisson de Vargas. Golden Knights videographer Skyler Romberg filmed both the Golden Knights and the GKAZ8 team in Eloy, while Alex Swindle was on the Airspeed 4-way camera.

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NSL TV Unfiltered: Featuring Paraclete XP8

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Kevin Penn continued on the XP8 camera, even though he did not have much competition work at the 8-way events his team attended. The USPA Nationals 2025 was the last and only outdoor competition that the U.S. national 8-way team attended after the changes in the lineup.

There were more changes in the XP8 lineup. Matt Davidson joined the other three 8-way world champions, including his wife Jennifer, at the beginning of the year, together with SDC Rhythm XP legend Doug Barron. They took the slots of Jill Stephenson and Ian Pedowitz, while only the new members James Hall, Carl Kallgren IV, and Brandon Kashani continued into the outdoor world championship season. Jill Stephenson and Ian Pedowitz are now the official XP8 alternates.

The current lineup had never exited a jump plane together in competition before the six or seven rounds they completed on Wednesday this week at Skydive Perris, while they have performed 30 rounds of indoor competition this year. The ten rounds at the national outdoor championship will have to provide all the competition experience the current lineup can collect before they meet their strongest challenger at the FAI Outdoor World Championship 2026 next month: the Qatar Falcons. In fact, no other 8-way team is currently expected to threaten XP8 and the Qatar Falcons at the top of the 8-way leaderboard, even though registration for the event is still open. The NSL News made an effort to introduce the new and current XP8 lineup during the first day of 8-way competition in Perris.

USPA Nationals 2025		1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		Total	Avg
Rank	8-way Open	Q,H,9,7		B,20,E,14		C,8,21		17,10,2		18,O,A,19		6,15,K		F,D,22,M		13,4,16		12,L,G,J		P,1,5		Total	Avg
1	XP8	17		14	-2	14	-1	15		14	-2	21	-1	20		20		20		18	-2	173	17.3
2	GKAZ8	14	-1	16	-1	12	-2	10	-2	15		16	-2	14	-3	20		16	-3	15	-2	148	14.8
3	Prison 9	11	-1	13		9	-3	11	-1	10		15		13	-1	15		12	-2	15		124	12.4
4	Mandatory Fun!	11		11		9	-1	9		9	-1	12	-1	13	-1	13		13		12		112	11.2
5	No Guts No Gloryhole	9	-2	8	-2	9		8		9		12		12		14		11		13		105	10.5
6	Perris Byte	7		7		4		6		6	-1	9		0		10		8		9	-1	66	6.6
7	Papa D's G8ngsteRhs	7	-2	5	-3	6		5		5		6	-1	8		5	-2	6	-2	9		62	6.2

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Paraclete XP8 at the USPA Nationals 2025

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