Wow, what a weekend! Saturday started out with a 10 mph head wind off the dock that built to 15 plus by the end of the day, we saw Team President Mitch Ross Breeze his way through 5@32 off for a 1st place Slalom finish, as well as frequent 3 event medalist Neilan Cassidy going out ad ripping through his opener and scroring buoys at 32mph 15 off in what was then a big tail wind. The conditions proved to be too much for some of our less experienced slalom skiers but all teams found they had the same issue. On the Jump lake we had a valiant effort put forth by new members who just narrowly missed being able walk away with their first landed jump, long time show skier Marissa Cardella and team Treasurer Ali Engelhardt were both able to ride away through the wind for Team Iowa. Following that we moved on to Men's and Women's trick, on the men's side; new member Matthew Roozeboome (we can't pronounce that either) scored 140 points on his wakeboard in his first A team appearance, senior and legacy Austin Marshal came in with 100 points on a wakeboard, Mitch Ross and Neilan Cassidy, continuing their good day came in 8th and 6th respectively with 740 and 920 points. On the ladies side, Ashley Collins came in with 20 points in her first A team appearance catching an edge on her attemped Front Back, and Team VP Bailey Krstic skied away with 200 points leading the team on the Women's side. At the end of day 1 Iowa was resting in 9th place, 40 point ahead of Nebraska and 9 teams move on to Regionals. Mens Jump started off with Neilan Cassidy who had been hoping 1st round would go on Saturday and struggled on his 3/4 cuts in a 15-20 mph cross wind but still put a 76ft leap in the books, he wanted to beat his 105 best. After that, Henry Hartzler landed a 43 ft ride over in the tail wind but struggled on his single wake cuts missing his 55 ft pb, Silas Tappendorf landed his first jump of the year witha 35 ft ride over, and Mitch Ross powered through his last event with a 1 ft pb of 70 ft. On the women's side of the lake, all teams were struglling to fight the 15 mph tail wind off the dock, Marrissa Cardella missed her gates unfortunately, while new member Julia Everitt, Treasurer Ali Engelhardt, and VP Bailey Krstic all walked away with a frustrated 1/2 buoy in the wind. At the end of day two The University of Iowa Waterski and Wakeboard Team had one Gold Medal Finish in Men's Slalom, a few pbs and tournament pbs by various members, more cuts beats and bruises combined than we care to count, but had unfortunately lost our placement to the women's slalom team of Nebraska. For the first year since 2011 we will not be making the trip out to Decatur, IL for the regional tournament but wish our friends and competitors on the other Great Planes Conference Teams the best of luck!
Mitch Ross
President:
University of Iowa Waterski and Wakeboard Team