The Michigan Water Ski Team just got back from their annual trip to ski school. For the second year in a row members of the team went to Baton Rouge, Louisiana and attended Bennett's Water Ski School. Sixteen members, three of them awesome brand new additions to the team, went down to learn from the pros. Skiing on Bennett's three private water ski lakes, the Michigan water skiers were able to take 4 sets a day in either slalom, trick, or jump with professional instruction. The entire time had a blast on and off the lake. Members not only increased their skiing knowledge and abilities but became closer as a team. Thanks to great weather, awesome facilities, stellar coaching, and extremely hard work, the Michigan water skiers are going to bring some super skills back to the Midwest for this years summer and fall ski season!

Are you looking to add some excitement to your college experience?

Do you like to water ski?

If you answered yes to either of these questions, then come to this informational meeting to learn about our awesome team and how to get
involved!!!

When: April 2nd @ 7:30 PM
Where: 3411 Mason Hall

If you have any questions, feel free to contact any of the officers.

See you there!

Congratulations to the newly elected officers who will take over in 2008:
President: Kevin Tague
Co-Captains: Nick Groeneweg & Colin Ivey
Vice President: Erika Bramlett
Treasurer: Maureen Donegan
Secretary: Cory Cosgrove
Public Relations: Zane Aukee

The NCWSA Collegiate Water Ski Nationals were held from Thursday, October 25 through Saturday. A total of 20 skiers and 20 loyal parents, (our best fans), went down to Bennett’s to compete in Division 2 Nationals. The cold weather deterred us from practicing a lot and a 3 break made the Wolverines a little rusty coming into the tournament.

A chilly Thursday in Louisiana started off with women’s jump. Erika Bramlett landed her first jump ever in a tournament and was followed by solid landings by Carrie Harrington, Julia Roberts (all 3 jumping 36 ft). Linsey Ward finished off the women jump scores with a 42 ft jump. Next came the men jumpers. Cory Cosgrove and Mike McCrary both put up solid 54 ft jumps, followed by Jeff Adams who jumped 72 ft and placed 10th. Kevin Tague was our first medalist tying for 5th place with his 83 ft jump.

On Friday both the men’s and women’s slalom competition took place. The lack of practice really showed for the men with some disappointing performances. Nick Groeneweg was the only male to clear his opener by getting a respectable 4.5 at 32 mph. Women’s slalom a little better with Julia Roberts running the course and getting 1.5 at 26 mph. Linsey Ward performed running 3.25 buoys at 32 mph and placing 7th.

Saturday featured the 2007 Wolverines best events, men’s and women’s trick! Michigan continued their domination of the trick event at Nationals with both the women’s and men’s team getting 1st place in trick. Carrie Harrington, Andrea Buras, Erika Bramlett, and Kasey Coates all tricked good runs getting 200, 280, 370, and 380 respectively. Mike McCrary, Chris Vivian, and Nick Quinnell tricked 410, 480, and 490 respectively. Three trick skiers made the trick podium: Kevin Tague and Linsey Ward trick 820 and 970 respectively both getting 5th place and Dan Hohs placed 4th with 950 points.

The wolverines placed an impressive 3rd place at Division 2 nationals, gaining three places from their visit to nationals the previous year. Nationals wrapped up an amazing season for the Michigan Water Ski Team. This year we will be saying goodbye to many amazing senior skiers featured in the picture on the right. Thanks for all your hard work and you will all be greatly missed: Sam Wallack, Andrea Buras, David Whalen, Carrie Harrington, Dan Hohs, Jeff Adams, Kasey Coates, Linsey Ward, Eric Laitala.

Midwest collegiate regionals was held in Decatur, IL. 18 super pumped Wolverines piled into an RV and drove 8 hours to compete against the top 16 teams in the Midwest. Friday featured women’s and men’s slalom. The morning started off with a thrilled Kasey Coates running the course at 24 mph for the first time ever in a tournament! Linsey Ward also put up a new personal best by skiing 3 at 32 mph. Men’s slalom featured solid openers by all and our top skiers Sam Wallack and Kevin Tague getting 4 at 36 mph.

Saturday brought warm weather, men’s trick, women’s jump, and women’s trick. Our dominant men’s trick team took 4th place. Mike Mccrary tricked a solid 660 pts, Kevin Tague tricked an impressive 740 pts, and Dan Hohs took 8th place with 1040 pts. In women’s jump Julia Roberts and Linsey Ward had solid lands. Andrea Buras took 8th place with a 51 foot jump. Our women’s trick team did outstanding getting 2nd place and missing first by only 40 points. Linsey Ward was our only skier to make the podium getting 5th place with her 820 pt trick run. Kasey Coates also did well, scoring 660 pts and placing 9th.

Sunday the men’s jump team had to put it all on the line with our nationals bid not secured. There was an extreme head wind that made jump conditions harsh. Despite the strong winds Mike McCrary, Sam Wallack, Jeff Adams, and Kevin Tague put up 56, 63, 66, and 83 foot jumps respectively. When the overall scores came in the whole team was biting their nails to see if we made the top 5 to qualify for nationals. In the end the Michigan Water Ski Team place 4th overall at Midwest Regionals and qualified for Division 2! Michigan also won the coveted spirit award for the second consecutive year!

NCWSA Collegiate Nationals will take place October 25-27 in Zachary, Louisiana at Bennett’s. 20 members of the team will be taking the trip down and competing against some of the top skiers in the nation. Good luck at Nationals and GO BLUE!

A lot of amazing water skiing went down at the Great Lakes Conference Championships in Hamilton, Ohio this weekend. Julia Roberts was the first skier of the entire tournament and set the pace for the weekend by running her slalom opener for the first time in competition. She was followed another personal best set by Linsey getting .5 a buoy at 32 mph. The mens slalom team tore it up with Dan Hohs, Colin Ivey, Kevin Tague, and Sam Wallack all getting into or past the 36 mph mark.

The girls trick team had another stellar performance. The four girls, Linsey, Andrea, Kasey, and Carrie won the women’s trick event by all getting in the top 10. The 4 guys, Dan Hohs, Kevin Tague, Nick Quinnel, and Eric Laitala also all placed in the top 10 and finished right behind Purdue. Dan medaled in the event with his 1040 point run placing him in 3rd.

Jump on Sunday was exciting with four girls, Andrea, Linsey, Carrie, and Julia all landing jumps they barely came in 2nd in the women’s jump event. A personal best for Andrea Buras of 58 feet leaped her into 2nd place for women’s jump. The guys jump team also shined with a 71 ft. jump by Jeff Adams and an 88 ft. jump by Sam Wallack. Kevin Tague jumped himself into the century club with a first jump of 102 feet and capped his set off with a 3rd place finishing jump of 108 ft.

Andrea Buras placed 2nd overall in the women’s division. Linsey Ward just missed the podium placing 4th overall. Kevin Tague placed 3rd overall in the men’s division. For the Great Lakes Conference Championships the Wolverine Water Skiiers took 2nd place, losing to Purdue by only 740 team points, and beating the 3rd place Michigan State by 2530 team points. Michigan showed the rest of the region that we are a force to be reckoned with. We are ready for an amazing Midwest Regional Tournament at PITS in Decatur, IL next weekend and look forward to competing with the best of the Midwest!

Pictures: (Left: Group Shot at Lake Lottawatta, Right: Sam clearing 36 mph!)

This weekend the water ski team had a short trip out to Tivoli Gardens in Fenton, MI to compete in the MSU Ripfest. Saturday was filled with A and B team slalom competition and also A and B team trick skiing. The skiers brought out their wet suits, rash guards, blankets, and sweatshirts to stay warm in the mid-50 degree weather. Despite the weather, the wolverines had some great skiing! Andrea Buras skied a personal best in slalom by getting 2 @ 32 mph. New skier Dave Whalen impressed everyone again with a B-team slalom performance of 2 @ 36 mph and an A-team trick score of 810 points on his wakeboard. Linsey Ward tied for 2nd with her 730 point trick run.

Despite the cold night Michigan was ready for a Sunday filled with jump. The women brought their A game with Andrea Buras, Linsey Ward, Julia Roberts, and Carrie Harrington all landing at least one of their jumps! Kevin Tague took 2nd with his 87 foot jump.

Overall Michigan took 2nd place in the tournament! The girls had some impressive overall placement with Andrea, Linsey, and Carrie getting 4th, 5th, and 7th respectively. Next week it’s off to Hamilton, OH for the Great Lakes Conference Championships. Keep up the strong skiing Michigan water skiers!

We apologize for the incorrect information posted in the tournament schedule and calendar section of our website, there have been updating issues. The correct tournament schedule for the rest of the 2007 season is below. Updated regional information can also be found at MCWSA.com.

September 15-16 MSU Ripfest at Tivoli Gardens, Gaines, Michigan
September 22-23 Great Lakes Championships Miami of Ohio University at Lake Lattowatta, Hamilton, OH
September 28-30 NCWSA Midwest Regionals University of Illinois at P.I.T.S. Decatur, IL

Top 5 at Regionals are invited to Nationals:
October 25-27 NCWSA Collegiate Nationals hosted at Bennett's in Zachary, LA

The official competitive season kicked off this weekend when 10 teams, including the Michigan Wolverines, met up in Van Wert Ohio for the Ball State Fling. We brought over 25 skiers, old and new, to the tournament. The tournament kicked off with men’s and women’s slalom on Saturday Morning. Four girls ran the course placing them in second for women’s slalom. The men skied well placing them in 3rd for slalom.

The bad weather rolled in and put a pause in the day in the middle of women’s trick. The teams waited around while the rain and lightning passed. The women’s team placed 1st in trick with solid performances by all and the top four girls getting in the top 10. The men’s team got 2nd place with Dan Hohs tricking 1310 pts and taking 1st place in men’s trick.

A little sprinkle of rain started Sunday off at 7:30 for a full day of jump and also all of the B-team events. Andrea Buras placed 5th with a jump of 53 ft and Sam Wallack jumped 72 ft. New skier Dave Whalen impressed everyone during B team trick with a flurry of wakeboard flips and spins he scored 745 pts!

There were also some great overall scores. Andrea took 5th place in women’s overall after performing consistent in all 3 events. Kevin Tague placed 3rd in men’s overall after his 93 foot jump topped off his stellar weekend of skiing. Overall the Wolverines placed 2nd in the tournament behind 1st place Purdue.

Great start to the season Michigan and good luck next week at the Michigan State Ripfest!

The Michigan water ski team has officially started the 2007 competition season! On Labor Day the wolverines competed against the Michigan State team in a friendly head to head competition. This warm up tournament not only served as tryouts but was a great way to get some awesome new recruits out to a tournament and on the water! Michigan came out victorious with consistent performances by both the men’s and women’s teams.

The water ski team has been taking full advantage of the amazing warm weather this summer and doing tons of water skiing! People have been practicing all summer with their families, friends, and the team. Kasey Coates and Anthony Smith took part in Lake Belleville’s annual ski show at the strawberry festival and showed the versatility of our skiers to all of Belleville.

Many members of the team attended various AWSA summer tournaments to keep their competitive edge. Two of the tournaments were held in Lawton Michigan where we also sold concessions and apparel to help raise funds for the team. Linsey Ward, Mike McCrary, and Dan Hohs also attended the Green Lightning tournament in Wilmington, IL and won the overall team tournament! Team members Andrea Buras and Kasey Coates also went to many of the stops on the Michigan slalom series.

There was some awesome break out performances. Kevin Tague slalomed 2 at 22 off at the West Michigan Record tournament. Matt Vivian tricked 1450 points at the Michigan Water Ski State Championships. Whitney Smith of U of M Flint skied a half buoy at 32 off at the Lyons Slalom #1 Tournament. Linsey Ward tricked 1120 at both the Green Lightning Tournament and the June Paradise Tournament in Chippewa Falls, WI.

The summer was capped off with a trip to ski school at Bennett’s in Zachary Louisiana. We had 9 members of the team there to try to improve right before the ski season in the hopes of giving us that extra push towards nationals. Everyone improved greatly in all of the events with the always helpful teaching from the Bennett’s instructors

It is sad to say with classes starting, summer is over. But with the tournament season coming up Michigan Team is excited to start competing. Michigan vs. Michigan State head-to-head tournament is on Labor Day, and then the Ball State fling is Sept 8-9! Hopefully these tournaments will help us gain momentum and prepare us to ski well at regionals so that we can go back to nationals for the second consecutive year!

Good luck to the Wolverine Water Skiers this year and GO BLUE!

In dire need of repairs, with screws sticking out and a cracked surface, the water ski team took on the enormous task of hauling the jump out of the water to resurface it. Large amounts of preparation and fundraising had to be done before any work could even begin on the water ski jump. The team took countless trips to the lake to work on the jump all spring and summer. The team was able to successfully install a brand new jump surface and make necessary repairs to the frame to make the jump fully functional again. Huge thanks to everyone who helped plan, fundraise, and work towards our great new jump. Special thanks go out to the members of the Belleville Water Ski Club who went above and beyond what we asked of them to get the jump floating again. With the jump back in the water, hopefully the U of M water skiers will get a great jump start to a new season!