The MCWSA is often asked to recruit summer camp waterski instructors. This document will act as a running advertisement for these jobs, so it will be updated as more camps contact us!

• Lake of the Woods Family of Camps, in Decatur MI, is searching for male and female water sports enthusiasts to work as camp counselor and waterski instructors for the upcoming summer. Spend your days driving one of our 8 Malibu tournament ski boats and instructing our campers, while living and working with people from all over the world! Applicants must be 19+, love working with children, and be able to spend the summer at camp, between June 9 and August 11. Salary starts at $2000 (including room and board). Sound like the perfect job for you? Email  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it for more information or apply now at http://www.lwcgwc.com/join-our-staff/available-jobs/

Online sanctioning is ready to go for the season.  A reminder that if you want your tournament listed in the Regional Guide the sanction process must be started by December 15 and completed by January 10, which includes payment of the sanction fees.  This year all sanction fees can be paid online, including the regional sanction fee.

Here is the official Policy
AWSA Sanctioned Events 
Event announcement fees are included in the regional sanction fee. 
To be included in the Regional Guide, tournament announcements have the following deadlines (2012): 

December 15: The USAWS online sanctioning process must be INITIATED for each tournament no later than 5 PM on December 15. Tournaments initiated after that date/time will incur a $25 late fee. 

December 31: Tournaments initiated in the USAWS online sanction system after 5PM on December 31 are not guaranteed to be in the Guide. At the sole discretion of the Guide Editor, such events may be included if they will not adversely affect publishing deadlines. 

January 10: Tournament sanctions should be FINALIZED in the USAWS online sanction system no later than 5PM January 10. Tournament sanctions finalized after Jan 10 may not be included in the Regional Guide. At the sole discretion of the Guide Editor, such events (and related online corrections) may be included if they will not adversely affect publishing deadlines.. 

January 10: Regional sanction fees must be RECEIVED no later than January 10; the date final announcement copy is due. Tournament announcements will not be included in the Regional Guide if sanction fees are received after January 10. 

The Guide Editor is authorized, at their sole discretion, to modify any or all of these deadlines for an individual event or all events, so long as they will not adversely affect publishing deadlines.

To sanction your event, go to www.usawaterski.org. From there, enter the Collegiate Waterskiing section and then click on “Event Sanctioning” on the left hand side. From there, just follow the prompts.

Thursday (DIV 1:  W M SLALOM/ DIV 2: M W JUMP):

The tournament kicked off bright and early Thursday morning with a total of 8 teams representing the Midwest region – 6 in Division 1 and 2 in Division 2.  Team Midwest represented HALF of the teams in the D1 event as Wisconsin LaCrosse, Purdue University, Miami of Ohio, University of Cincinnati, Kansas University and Iowa State University battled against the other regions while University of Michigan and Grand Valley State University fought for the D2 title.

Women were first off the dock to slalom in D1 and although the weather was great to start, round 2 and 3 skiers found themselves battling slightly windy conditions.  Luckily, the wind died down for the last two rotations of women’s slalom and weather remained perfect for the men’s slalom event that followed.

As the D1 athletes slalomed, GVSU and UM men and women hit the jump. No one was injured jumping, but there were a few minor crashes, as is typical in most jump events.

GP Conference
- First Conference Championship at Dream Lakes Estates hosted by Iowa State, GREAT JOB! Big thanks to Anthony Campbell for all the hard work and a very successful tournament!
- GP Captains meeting:
- Thanks MIZ for stepping up and hosting a tournament, it was great! What a beautiful site too
- Elections: Chairman Matt Knafla, VC Ryan Brooks, Treasurer John Roberts, Secretary Jordan Dutro

GL Conference
- Great tournament even with a little hail.
- Big thanks to Jill, Jon, Andrew French, Jim McClure

**SOCIAL**

Recruitment
Jenna Gilbert would like to know what kind of recruitment is working and what stuggles you are having. email Jenna at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Maggie Tierney-- Goal to have one small team grow and one new team per region. Nebraska may be joining the Midwest next season!

Bob Anderson-- Contact if need any information on how to become an official (driver, judge, scorer). We would like to see each team have at least 2 assistants.

Michael Bullock-- Please email Unicorn if you have any alumni that need to be added to the MCWSA Alumni mailing list. Working on a Midwest Alumni Tournament! This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

ALL STARS
- Beaver Lake, NC... Beautiful Site!!!
- Top 10 Women and Men from each event in each region qualify
- 1st place of women's and men's overall will be captains of Team Midwest
- Dates are TBA

NATIONALS
- Bennett's Ski School in Louisiana
- D1 and D2 are determined differently now...
- 1st place team goes to D1
- 2-5th places teams + wildcard are put into a simulated tournament and then set in either D1/D2.
- Wild Cards Show hosted online by Jeff Surdej and Cris Kodiak [ESPN style] next monday 10/8

**SOCIAL**

WINTER CONFERENCE
- Bids due October 15
- email Christy with any questions
- each team will have 1 vote to choose final location
- email Christy with and Pro Skier requests

TEAM REPORTS
- Iowa-- Sit In, November 3rd, all of Midwest invited!
- Stout-- Pond Hockey, Super Bowl Weekend

- Milwaukee-- Please everyone be smart about their parking at tournaments to prevent any accidents
- Iowa State-- Please help out with trash at any tournament you attend, be respectful of sites
- Madison-- 85 Members this season WOOOO Tip: skiing in the summer can really improve team!
- Iowa-- got a slalom course WEEEEE

Helping out at summer tournaments makes for happy site owners! This is important in the Collegiate ski world!

2013 TOURNAMENT BIDS
- Due November 1st
- collegiate tournaments only, not summer
- this includes all regular fall and spring tournaments, conference, regionals, nationals, and all stars
- May have room for one more weekend for an extra tournament depending on 2013 Nationals dates

2013 REGIONALS
- Do we want to determine regional qualifiers like Nationals now?
- Ryan Brooks will be working on a committee to discuss this issue, which can then be relayed to Christy and Jon for the NCWSA Winter Meeting.
- Remember that the bylaws are determined by the skiers, we have the power to change the way we ski!
- Any other issues you would like to see change in the future please bring up to Christy or Jon so they can present them at the winter meeting



This was a very productive meeting everyone! Thank you so much for all the participation and support! **SOCIAL**

This weekend, teams  from both the Great Lakes Conference and the Great Plaines Conference will come  together in competition to fight for Regional Titles as well as for a spot competing at the National Collegiate Waterski Competition.

Last weekend, the Conference Championships took place. Due to the number of teams in each Conference, the top 9 teams from the Great Plaines and the top 7 teams from the Great Lakes qualified for the Regional Tournament. These teams are:

Great Plaines

1. University of Wisconsin -La Crosse
2. Kansas University
3. University of Iowa
4. University of Wisconsin-Madison
5. University of Wisconsin-Stout
6. Iowa State University
7. Marquette University
8. University of Illinois
9. University of Wisconsin

Great Lakes

1. Purdue University
2. University of Miami of Ohio
3. University of Cincinnati
4. Grand Valley State University
5. Michigan State University
6. University of Michigan
7. Ohio State University

Starting this Friday, September 28^th, at the PITS ski site in Decatur, Illinois, these 16 teams will compete for spots at the National Tournament. The top 5 teams at Regionals will automatically make it to Nationals. From there, the 6^th, 7^th, and 8^th place teams will be placed into a wildcard mock tournament and compete against the other region’s th, 7^th, and 8^th place teams. The tournament will be simulated based on the season averages. Both wildcard spots for Nationals will come from this mock tournament. Once this has happened and the 22 teams for the nation have been determined, the Division 1 and Division 2 split will be decided. Each Regional Champion will automatically be Division I. After that, the remaining 18 teams will be put into another simulated tournament; this is also based on season averages. The top 8 teams from this mock tournament will go to Division I and the next 10 teams will go to Division II.

Both of these simulated tournaments will be broadcasted LIVE by Chris Kodiak and Jeff Surdej again this year…we hope J. More to come on the date and time of that!

So skiers, get ready for a rockin good weekend, full of nothing but some good, clean competition! Remember to respect the lake owners and the hosting team, help out where you can and PLEASE follow all rules.

Wind, rain, hail, and flat out cold weather handed the 14 competing teams harsh conditions for the first day of the tournament- the most memorable being the wind for slalom. The wind storm that began during the middle of the men’s slalom event gradually progressed throughout the day on Saturday and didn’t let up until the end of the trick event. The first event of the tournament was men’s slalom. Winning men’s slalom was top seed Michael Bullock of Purdue with .5@38’ off. In second place was Ben VanTreese (OSU) who injured his shoulder around 6 ball at 32’ off, who finished with 5.5@32’. The 3rd place podium spot was stolen by Matthew Cole (PUR) with 1.5@32’ off, followed by his teammate Jeremy Knafla with .5@32 off, and David Daulton of Miami with 5@28’.

Wind speed continued to increase throughout women’s slalom, so much so that not a single women slalom skier ran a pass in shortline. In fact, top seeds were not even able to run their opening passes. At one point during women’s slalom, the tournament was delayed due to a 20-minute downpour of rain and hail. Winning women’s slalom was Hillary Kaub (PUR) with 3@34 MPH followed by a two-way tie for second between Adriel Egner (MST) and Megan Lambert (PUR) with 4.5 @ 32 MPH. Paige Ruddick (PUR) stole the 4th place spot with 2 @ 32 MPH while her teammate Michelle Bullock took 5th with 1.5 @ 32 MPH.

Unfortunately, the wind didn’t die down for the beginning of women’s trick, forcing the ladies to tough out the wind and cold once again. It did, however, die down enough at the end of the event that some of the girls were able to do toes. Speaking of toes, Emily VanTreese (MOH) had a spectacular toe pass, scoring her 2090 pts and allowing her to sweep the event by over 1200 points. In the remaining podium places were Lauren Smith (MST) with 880 pts, Hillary Kaub (PUR) and Erin Slater (CIN) tying with 740 pts and Katie Mitchell (OHS) with 660. Luckily a toe skier, Ben Van Treese (OHS) was able to score a solid 2040 pts to win the trick event. In 2nd place was Andrew Schmitt (PUR) with 1530 followed by Daniel Gotshall (GVS) with 1120, Karl Koett (CIN) with 1040 and Alex Beiersdorfer (CIN) with a score of 780.

Mother nature decided to cooperate and give the Great Lakes skiers much better conditions for Sunday morning, taking away the wind and giving them some sunshine. Per usual, Sunday morning served as a very important day for the skiers, a day when the difference between overall team placements at the end of the tournament rests in the hands of how many skiers are able to land. Kicking off this exciting event were the women, half of which, were able to ride one away, with only 17 falls. Winning the event was Lauren Smith (MST) with 78 feet. 2nd- 5th places were secured by Colleen Condra (GVSU) with 60’, and Erin Slater (CIN) with 57’, Laura (CIN) 56’, and Erica Bensman (OHS) with 49’, respectively.¬¬¬ Winning overall titles for the tournament were Purdue skiers Michael Bullock and Hillary Kaub.

So, if you are wondering what teams from the Great Lakes Conference to keep an eye on, it goes without saying that you should look no further than Purdue who swept the tournament by nearly 1,000 points. Miami of Ohio took 2nd place this year with 8,565 and are looking to be some really tough competition next weekend. Cincinnati, Grand Valley State, and Michigan State University were extremely close in point value with 7435 for Cinci, 7290 for Grand Valley and 7125 for Michigan State. Ohio State took the last qualifying spot for Regionals with 6680 as they held a 3,380 pt cushion between themselves as the remaining 7 teams.

Great Lakes Conference Secretary
Kacy Clifton

Last weekend, 80 collegiate skiers and alumni gathered in Evansdale, IA for the 3rd Annual Team Midwest Summer Shakedown Tournament. Great fun, skiing, and costume wearing was had by all. Although it was scored as a regular Class C Summer Tournament, some Team Scoring was completed on the side. As usual, La Crosse came in first, followed by Iowa State and Iowa! But then Sunday evening came around, when the lonely, post-ski tournament-depression sets in and the only cure for it is another ski tournament. Most of you are probably thinking that it’s not collegiate season, so there probably isn’t another tournament to go to until September. WRONG! There are multiple ski tournaments every weekend in the Midwest, probably at least one a weekend in your own state.

You can find all the information and tournament details in the Regional Guide that was mailed to you this past winter. If you have misplaced it, visit usawaterski.org for an online tournament directory. Once you have found a tournament you are interested in (one that is nearby, offers camping, and has reasonable rates) call up some of your friends and make a weekend out of it! The best part about summer tournaments is that you will meet people of all ages who live and breathe waterskiing just as much as you do, if not more! Most also enjoy kicking back for some fun and relaxation once the competition has ended for the day. Remember to post on the MCWSA Facebook page any tournament plans you or a group of people have to spread the word to rest of Team Midwest where the most fun will be had on which weekend.

So find yourself a summer tournament and get a group together to enjoy some more fun in the sun!

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact any one of your MCWSA Board Members for some guidance.

It isn’t too often that a Midwest skier gets to take to the water in January. In fact, most of us find some sort of winter cross over sport to engage in such as snow skiing or snowboarding. Personally, I am no exception to that rule and am an avid freestyle snow skier and snowmobiler. But this year was a bit different. After receiving a late Sunday night phone call from USA Team Manager Harley Wallace, my December and January plans had changed.

Initially, I was selected to the US team as an alternate and had an option to travel with the team as a back-up skier. But due to some team skier injuries, Harley had informed me that I had been selected to the competing team about 2 months before the competition. I immediately accepted the offer and scrambled to get my passport and flights booked.   Since I hadn’t water skied since Collegiate Nationals at Bennets, I knew I had my work cut out for me.

On February 10^th, 2012, people from all over the United States of America traveled to the only good town in Iowa (because it’s home of the Hawkeyes duh!) for the 14^th annual MCWSA Winter Conference. The weekend began at the Airliner Bar where everyone got to reunite after the first half of a long winter apart. After some complications at the hotel and some great cooperation by all Midwest Skiers, we got some sleep in the comfortable Sheraton Hotel.

Saturday morning kicked off with a great Captain’s Meeting and Breakfast. At this meeting, we covered many important topics, rule changes, board member reports, and then moved on to elections. A big thanks to the 2011-2012 MCWSA Board Members (Christy Kingsmill, Jim Grabowski, Shelly Tranchita, Jon Bice, Gretchen Storm, Maggie Tierney, Mike Mayleben, Bob Anderson, Maddy Baldwin, Kevin Klingbeil, and Ashley Colburn) for all of their hard work to make it a great season.

Once the business got finalized, we got to the fun part of the conference…hanging out with the professional waterskiers and learning about waterskiing!! We welcomed Thomas Moore and Billy Susi back to the conference along with Winter Conference Virgin Zack Worden, who if you didn’t know, is now the Collegiate Men’s World Jump Record Holder! Also speaking was Paul Ogren, Christy Kingsmill, Maddy Baldwin, Jon Bice, Tyler Lorenz, and Chris Reynolds. All of these wonderful people helped to better the waterskiing abilities and programs of the colleges across the region.

Once our brains were filled with knowledge, we capped off the day with an awards ceremony and some great door prizes, thanks to D3 skis, HO sports, and Swiss Ski School. At this awards ceremony, the 2012 Midwest Region Collegiate All Star team was announced as well as the 2011-2012 SkiAmmy Award Winners, which were decided upon through an open nomination process and then voted on by each team in the region. And the Ski Ammy winners are:

• Female Rookie of the Year: Kelsey Lorenz
• Male Rookie of the Year: Colton King
• Most Improved Skier of the Year: Jordan Kintzle
• Hardest Worker: Maddy Baldwin
• Kiedrowski Award (Most Supportive Skier): Jordan Dutro
• Most Outstanding Senior Female: Maddy Baldwin
• Most Outstanding Senior Male: Paul Tierney
• Most Consistent Skier: Ben VanTreese
• Most Likely To Go Pro: Tyler Lorenz
• Best Team Captain: Maddy Baldwin
• Most Valuable Female Skier: Jane Erickson
• Most Valuable Male Skier: Tyler Lorenz
• Happy Award (Most Supportive Alumni): Scott Fitzer
• Most Likely to Hit the Side Curtain: Kyle Dammeyer

The 2012 Midwest All Star Team

Women’s Slalom

1. Jenna Gilbert
2. Maddy Baldwin
3. Katie Redes
4. Jordan Dutro
5. Kelsey Lorenz
6. Emily Van Treese
7. Caley Backlund
8. Katie Barnes
9. Ariel Oppenheim
10. Jane Erickson
11. Alternate: Maggie Tierney

Men’s Slalom

1. Paul Tierney
2. Kyle Dammeyer
3. Michael Bullock
4. Tyler Lorenz
5. Ben Van Treese
6. Matthew Cole
7. Brett Phillips
8. Branden Von Ins
9. Andy Bernhagen
10. Dana Grubb
11. Alternate: Jeremy Knafla

Women’s Trick

1. Emily Van Treese
2. Sam Ruehl
3. Jane Erickson
4. Maddy Baldwin
5. Kelsey Lorenz
6. Payton Hartman
7. Kacy Clifton
8. Abbey Bays
9. Erin Slater
10. Devin Cassidy
11. Alternate: Kara Builta

Men’s Trick

1. Tyler Lorenz
2. Ben Van Treese
3. Chris Van Treese
4. Garret Brown
5. Kyle Dammeyer
6. Zach Schneider
7. Andy Madden
8. Kevin Kresch
9. Cobi Krumholz
10. Derek McLachlan

Women’s Jump

1. Jane Erickson
2. Kelsey Lorenz
3. Maddy Baldwin
4. Jordan Dutro
5. Carley Burke
6. Maggie Tierney
7. Caley Backlund
8. Colleen Condra
9. Jamie Zeal
10. Jennifer King
11. Alternate: Casey Thress

Men’s Jump

1. Tyler Lorenz
2. Ryan Backlund
3. Ben Van Treese
4. Sean Jacobi
5. Andy Madden
6. Derek McLachlan
7. Dana Grubb
8. Chris Can Treese
9. Zach Schneider
10. Paul Tierney
11. Alternate: Garret Brown

All Star’s Team Captains: Tyler Lorenz and Kelsey Lorenz (how cute, the brother and sister duo!)

This year’s Collegiate All Star Tournament will take place in Blaine, WA at Borderline Lake on May 19-20, 2012. A Night Jump will also be featured on Saturday night, so I hope to see you all there for this awesome event whether you are skiing or cheering on Team Midwest!

The weekend was capped off with a slammin night at Sam’s Pizza. The party was all that and a bag of chips with the 90’s Television Theme. You could have met the stars from Bay Watch, Home Improvement, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Rugrats, and many many more!

We hope that all who attended Winter Conference had a great time and if you have yet to fill out the survey from it, please do so at http://www.surveybuilder.com/s/KCaxEK99QAA Thanks :)

Whitecaps covered Decatur’s lake as slalom skiers took the water on Friday, the first day of competition in the Midwest Collegiate Regional Championships. Skiers spent their warm up time debating their opener, trying to pick a high scoring, yet doable pass. Very few skiers ran more than two passes, and some of the top skiers fell victim to the wind and waves on their first attempt. For the women, Katelyn Redes of Grand Valley State took the gold with 2 balls at 22 off, the only women’s skier scoring into shortline. The top three in men’s slalom were Tyler Lorenz, Paul Tierney, and Ben Van Treese, who all managed to snag a couple buoys at 32 off. Saturday and Sunday brought more sunshine and weaker winds. After a mediocre slalom event, the Ohio State University’s men’s team took the trick event by storm, with four skiers scoring in the top seven. The University of Cincinnati climbed up the scoreboard after a strong women’s trick performance. Overall, it was the University of Wisconsin La Crosse that proved to be worthy of the regional title, with a combined team standing of 1st place in slalom, 2nd in jump, and 3rd in trick. They will be accompanied by the Ohio State University and the University of Cincinnati in Division I Nationals in Zachary, LA. Purdue University and the University of Wisconsin Madison will accompany the wildcard University of Iowa in Division II.

Great Plaines Conference Championship

The 2011 Great Plaines Conference Championship has come and gone and the top nine teams will be headed to Decatur in a couple days to shred against the rest of the Midwest at Regionals.  The University of Wisconsin Madison and Waters Edge put on a phe-nom tournament this past weekend with the results to show it…

La Crosse took the gold home by just 235 points with Madison right beneath them.  University of Iowa took third with Missouri State following in fourth.  Illinois State, Iowa State, Marquette, University of Illinois, and Southern Illinois took the remaining places for the top nine teams going to Regionals.  A big congrats goes to University of Iowa; they qualified for Regionals for the first time in 8 years!  Tyler Lorenz from Madison cleaned up every event, including men’s overall.  Jane Erickson from Minnesota placed first in women’s trick, jump, and overall.  Maddy Baldwin from University of Iowa following Erickson very closely, and took the win for women’s slalom.

Good Luck to the teams competing this weekend at Regionals!

Brigid Burke from Madison working the slot machines.

VEGAS BABY!

Flint Tournament

The 2011 Jepawhit Collegiate Ski Fest turned out to be an awesome weekend in Michigan. The weather was great for skiing except for a little bit of fog - quite the turn-around from Michigan's wind and rain last year. The hosts were awesome and provided food and a DJ taking requests both days. Several of the teams came out strong this weekend with a large number of skiers participating. Purdue came out on top, followed by Grand Valley State and Miami of Ohio. Even though these three teams were top over all, the top skiers in each event varied a lot through the teams, so we’ll have to watch a few for what they can bring in the next few weeks. Miami really stepped up with a lot of new members. The teams had a lot of fun with the Halloween theme. One team actually brought a kids 4-wheeler as part of a girl’s costume which she rode around in that night!

Hawkeye Ski Fest 2011