Aqua Skiers win D3 state show ski title

KELLNER – There might not be a better example of the phoenix rising from the ashes than the Wisconsin Rapids Aqua Skiers.

Two years ago the club had 70 members, of which 35 were skiers, and finished last in the Division 3 competition at the Wisconsin State Show Ski Tournament.

Sunday night at Lake Wazeecha’s Red Sands Beach, the Aqua Skiers hoisted the D3 championship trophy, scoring 1,330 points to easily outscore runner-up Chain Skiers of Waupaca by 194 points. The Shawano Ski Sharks finished third and Twin Bridge of Crivitz rounded out the top four in the seven-team field.

The state title was the club’s first in D3 and third overall, winning back-to-back D1 championships in 2000 and 2001.

“I’m so happy for the members who held the club together when we were down,” Aqua Skiers co-show director Jason Sach said. “A few years ago we were one of the smallest teams and this year we were the third biggest in the whole tournament.”

The Aqua Skiers roster is at 128 members in the 25-team field.

The host club won two of the traditional box scores, dock and equipment (72) and tow boat driving (569) with a new driving crew.

“We had two drivers who never drove in a ski show and one of them was our main tow boat driver,” Sachs said. “We worked with them and they worked hard and won best tow boat driving.”

In addition to the box scores, the crew had the highest scoring ballet line (333) and pyramid (287) in the division and member Taylor Christianson was the D3 Janie Dibble-Woods recipient awarded to the top female skier in the tournament.

“We have such great people on this team and we worked for this,” Sachs said. “The momentum we have right now is just scratching the surface of our potential. This group is hungry.”

The Aqua Skiers will compete in the Division 2 Show Nationals in Tomahawk from July 31-Aug. 2.

In 2016, the club will host the 50th state tournament and the third bi-annual World Show Ski Championships.

Mad City was the Division 1 champion, scoring 1,965 points, the Rock Aqua Jays finished second with 1,891 and the Aquanuts rounded out the top three with 1,711.

Mad City won box scores for tow boat driving and sound crew, while the Aqua Jays claimed the top scores for dock and equipment and pick up boats.

The Badwater Ski-Ters won the Division 2 title with 1,251 points, followed by Shermalot (1,239) and the Ski Cats (1,223) to round out the top three.

Division 1

Team scores: 1. Mad City 1,965; 2. Rock Aqua Jays 1,891; 3. Aquanuts 1,711; 4. Water Bugs 1,587; 5. Webfooters 1,427; 6. Beaverland MustSkis 1,300; 7. Hydroflites 1,230; 8. Waterboard Warriors 1,192; 9. Badgerland 1,164.

Box scores (Top 3): Dock and Equipment: Rock Aqua Jays 98, Mad City 91, Aqua Nutz 75. Pick up boats: Rock Aqua Jays 272, Mad City 269, Aquanuts 226. Tow boat driving: Mad City 768, Rock Aqua Jays 736, Aquanuts 610. Sound Crew: Mad City 993, Rock Aqua Jays 926, Beaverland MustSkis 722.

Division 2

Team scores: 1. Badwater Ski-Ters 1,251; 2. Shermalot 1,239; 3. Ski Cats 1,223; 4. Browns Lake 1,212; 5. Chain Skimmers 1,122; 6. Plum Ski-Ters 1,100; 7. Kwahamots 1,052; 8. Ski Sprites 1,031; 9. Minneiska 1,010.

Box scores (Top 3): Dock and Equipment: Shermalot 69, Ski Sprites 62, Minneiska 60. Pick up boats: Ski Cats 256, Shermalot 234, Browns Lake 221. Tow boat driving: Browns Lake 570, Ski Cats 552, Shermalot 535. Sound crew: Ski Cats 718, Minneiska 686, Browns Lake 685.

Division 3

Team scores: 1. Wisconsin Rapids Aqua Skiers 1,330; 2. Chain Skiers 1,136; 3. Ski Sharks 1,070; 4. Twin Bridge 956; 5. River City 930; 6. Aqua Devils 650; 7. Lauderdale Aqua Skiers 650.

Box scores (Top 3): Wisconsin Rapids Aqua Skiers 72, Twin Bridge 69, River City 66. Pick up boats: Chain Skiers 219, Wisconsin Rapids Aqua Skiers 209, Ski Sharks 173. Two boat driving: Wisconsin Rapids Aqua Skiers 569, Chain Skiers 502, Ski Sharks 462. Sound crew: Chain skisers 793, Twin Bridge 721, River City 689.

Individual Competition

Strap doubles (Top 5): 1. Kimberly Lobiudice and Cory Krivitz 16.20; 2.Jordyn Jones and Chris Dinse 13.90; 3. Hailey Planton and Jon Mohr 13.80; 4. Kelsey Sach and Rich Taugner 13.13. 5. Rachel Parbs and Andrew Janus 13.10.

Swivel skiing: 1. Rachel Zenk 17.86; 2. Kaila Coffey 17.80; 3. Madison Hagemann 16.67; 4. Linzy Reinders 15.83; 5. Brea Imse 15.10.

Team jump: 1. Badwater Ski-Ters 74.33; 2. Water Bugs 72.33; 3. Rock Aqua Jays 59.67; 4. Mad City 56.36.

Freestyle jumping: 1. Dan Olson 1,140; 2. Cody Siolka 521; 3. John Kriegl 515; 4. Adam Michaud 284; 5. Dan Shaugnessy 201.

Mark Massoglia: 715-423-7200, ext. 6736; mmassogl@cwnews.net; on Twitter @markmazzy.