Tim Cochrane was named the State Round Robin Champion out of a field of 62 skiers.  The State Round Robin tournament was Stop #4 of the BBT.  This format pits skiers against each other in groups of 4.  The object of the game, to win your group each round and collect the most points.  The top skiers with the most cumulative points will earn a spot in the Finals and gain the most points towards the Tour Standings.  Skier advancing to the finals included Tim Cochrane, Andrew French, Kinsey Barhorst, Kristen Dammeyer, Madison Schneider, Riley Daulton, Robbie Daulton, Debbie Daulton, Sam Ingram, and Jason Anderson.
During the finals, skiers had to start 1 pass under their average.  For example if a skier was averaging 2 at 28' off, they had to come off the dock at 22' off. Andrew French was certain that he had the title wrapped up after coming off the dock and running 22' off for only the second time in a tournament.  Tim Cochrane dashed his hopes minutes later by skiing a better percentage of his average
All of the tournament scores can be found here: Ohio State Round Robin(7/24/10)

The 2010 State Championships were held this past weekend at Emerald Lake in Akron, Ohio.  There was a strong breeze out of the southwest but the water stayed very skiable and some great scores were posted.  The rain did hold off for the slalom competion on Saturday, but there were some showers and brief downpours on Sunday for the trick and jump competions. 
A big thank you goes out to the Bellago ski club for orangizing this years state tournament and also to Mike Van Devere, owner of Emerald lake for opening up his beautiful lake to us.
Click on the more button below to see a list of this years state champions.
For the complete scorebook click here.State Championships (7/24/10)

Please spread the word.  I-55 between the hotels and site has major delays.  Take I-80 east to Rt 53 south to the site. 

Jeff Surdej - Tournament Director

Denise Dammeyer has been busy posting pictures from the 2010 State Championship
held at Emerald Lake in Akron Ohio!!!  These pictures can be seen by clicking on the
photo album link on the left and then click on 2010 events or by clicking here.
If anyone see a photo in the album that they would like please email This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
Results and recap of the State Round Robin and State Championships will be up soon.

Nine of the eleven member Ohio Elite Junior Water Ski Team attended a junior development clinic on Thursday, July 15th at the Extreme Water Sports Center in Newtown, Ohio.  Adam Sedlmajer of the Czech Republic took a day out of his routine training and coaching schedule to come to Ohio to coach all three events - slalom, trick and jump.  Adam is one of the top men's overall skiers in the world, placing third in the last pro tour slalom stop in Michigan and hopes to break the Men's World Overall record this year.
 
Extreme Water Sports was ideally suited for this clinic with two lakes, three slalom courses and a jump.  The weather was ideal and the skiing was incredible.  Kroger, Wake Nation, Dannon and Under Armour are additional sponsors of the Ohio Elite Team and the Junior Development program.  Cory Pickos Ski and Wakeboard Center, Santa Rosa Beach, Florida, where Adam coaches and trains daily, facilitated him being able to coach this clinic. 
 
In addition to this clinic, the Ohio Water Ski Association hosted three other Junior Development Clinics in Ohio this year.

 
Pictured: front row - Kristen Dammeyer, Kinsey Barhorst, Dane Mechler, Madison Schneider and Riley Daulton.  back row - Kevin Dammeyer, Zack Schneider, Kyle Dammeyer, Mason Mechler and Adam Sedlmajer.  Additional team members Robbe Daulton and Ryan Wells were not able to attend.

For the first time in it's short history the Buckeye Buoy Tour will crown the top OVERALL skier at the end of the tour by adding the final scores in each event of those who skied all 3 events throughout the season.  Currently leading the overall standings are Kevin and Kyle Dammeyer of Shortline Shores who have not only been tearing it up in the slalom course as usual but also picking up trick and jump and showing amazing progress week after week.  Sitting in 3rd place behind the Dammeyer brothers is BBT creator Greg Kuenning of Extreme Watersports Center.

Complete Standings

Complete Standings

After 3 Buckeye Buoy Tour Stops, Jacklyn Woniger of the University of Cincinnati holds the lead over the other 71 competitors who have attended a BBT Stop this year.  Woniger has compiled 1,330 total points out of a possible 1,500 points.  She is followed in 2nd place by Kevin Dammeyer of Shortline Shores with 1,240 points and Connor Nelson of Lake Lottawatta with 1,100 points in 3rd place.  The 4th BBT Stop will be the State Round Robin held on the Friday prior to the State Championships at Emerald Lake in Akron, OH.  See the complete BBT Standing on the Buckeye Buoy Tour Page.  Trick and Jump standings to be updated soon!

The largest Buckeye Buoy Tour Stop to date was as big as it promised to be in every way!  The Lottawatta Skiers put on a great event with good water, good food, and good fun.  48 slalom skiers competed for the longest running title in the state since "fun formats" were introduced.  There was stiff competition throughout the day with many personal bests going down including Riley Daulton running 28 off 34 mph for the first time in a tournament and Kevin Dammeyer running 32 off 36 mph for the first time in a tournament.  Out of the top 16 seeds, just .46% seperated places 1 through 5 who qualified for the finals with the highest score being 99.47% and the final qualifying spots scoring 99.01% of their average.  15 skiers advanced to the finals and Linda Baker got off to an early lead with a score of 109% of her average and never looked back.  She watched from her Top Cat thrown with her own personal whipping boy at her beck and call throughout the finals.  In the end, the final 15 finished as follows:

1. Linda Baker
2. Connor Nelson
3. Justin Ady
4. Ben Van Treese
5. Riley Daulton
6. Bruce Baker
7. Kevin Dammeyer
8. Jacklyn Woniger
9. Kristen Dammeyer
10. Samantha Ruehl
11. Susan Mechler
12. Dane Mechler
13. Lake Clark
14. Jamie Zeal
15. Noah Vieke

Hundreds of photos from the event are being posted in the photo album!

Lottawatta Top Cat (7/10/10) 9.98 Kb

Ohio needs more regular and senior officials to effectively run our tournaments.  There is an additional incentive, most Ohio tournaments will discount your entry fee if you help judge, score or drive in a tournament or waive them all together if you are one of the chief officials.

So now that we have given you the incentvie to upgrade,  how do you find out if you are ready?  USA Waterski has a great tool for you check on that. Here is how:

If you or a family member are in the process of learning how to run the slalom course, you may want to consider learning the mini-course as a stepping stone into the regulation size course.  Running the mini-course is great for beginner skiers, it helps to learn the basics of running the slalom course, it's a great confidence booster, and it's just as much fun as running the regulation course.  Here's how it works...

The Ohio Water Ski Association was featured in the latest addition of The Water Skier magazine.  Read the full article by clicking the picture below...