The NCWSA every year, has 5 end-of-the-year awards.

They are:

* Male and Female Athlete of the Year. This award is for the greatest performing male and female athlete in the NCWSA for ALL of the 2008 calendar year, this includes the Spring AND Fall of 2008. This award is based on only scores acheived in NCWSA events.

* Male and Female Most Outstanding Leader. This award goes to the male and female skier that contributed the most to the NCWSA off the water. Whether it be through their team, their conference, their region, or the nation, these skiers provided leadership off the water and gave of their time and effort to improve our sport.

* Team of the Year. This award goes to the team that personified all that NCWSA stands for this season and the team that stood out among their peers as a model of organization and performance.

Team Midwest was well represented with 5 nominees.

Melanie Cyra from Wisconsin Madison is nominated for Female Athlete of the Year. She skied 8 collegiate tournaments in 2008, including All-Stars and Division 1 Nationals. Her season was highlighted by joining the very exclusive female collegiate century club for the first time, on her last jump at D1 Nationals, and set a new conference jump record in the process/

There were three teams nominated for Team of the Year.

Cincinnati Bearcats - Quite Possibly the cinderella story of the year. Never qualified for Nationals in the history of the team, yet have a very successful year, taking 2nd at conference, coming in 4th at regionals (after 11th last year) and winning the Division 2 National Tournament. ON top of that, they were always around dock starting, announcing, helping in any way they could at Conference and Nationals, even though they weren't hosting.

Wisconsin Madison Badgers - Have you ever wanted something so bad you can taste it? Has that want been consuming you for 6 years? Did you finally achieve that milestone that you were looking for? Then you know what Wisconsin Madison felt like, when they beat the Purdue Boilermakers at Collegiate Nationals. By a mere 30 points, the teams were neck and neck all weekend long. It was a great culmination for a team that had one goal, and achieved it on the grandest of stages. The team also did a great job snagging homegrown talent Tyler Lorenz for the team as well.

Iowa State Cyclones - The Cyclones came out of seemingly nowhere to be a very consistent team in 2008. They hosted two tournaments at their 2-lake site and gave a lot of time and effort to pull that off. Not only that, but they may have had the most improved off-season of any team in the land. Skiers that were improving by multiple passes, hundreds of trick points, and over 80 feet in jump for some. They have a strong balance of men and women, and will be even stronger next year.

Adam Koehler of Marquette is nominated for Male Most Outstanding Leader. Adam was the brainchild which got 2 more wildcard teams to Collegiate Nationals. An idea that Team Midwest has directly benefitted from by bringing a 6th team last year, and for sure 6, maybe even 7 for next year. He also is working on an idea of NCWSA Medical Redshirting, as well as revisiting the NCWSA scoring system to make sure it is as fair as possible. On top of this, he is the website coordinator for the Marquette team as well as their alumni liasion.

So please join me in giving these fine candidates a well deserved round of applause. Stay tuned to here and www.ncwsa.com to see who brings home the hardware and gets invited to the USAWS awards ceremony in Orlando in January.