The American Water Ski Association’s 2012 Rulebook and 2012 Summary of Rule Changes are now available to view and download. To download the rulebook, click here (PDF). To download the summary of rule changes, click here (PDF).

Dane Mechler has been invited to compete in the Moomba Masters International Invitational Championships in Melbourne, Australia.  Dane will be one of three U.S. skiers competing in the Junior Moomba Boys slalom event and is second seed behind U.S. skier Zane Nicholson.  Dane was invited to compete in all three events but elected to compete in slalom only as preparing for a single event while living in Ohio is difficult enough during the winter months.  It is believed that Dane is the first skier from Ohio to compete in the Moomba Masters.

The Moomba Masters International Invitational Championships are conducted each March as part of the Moomba Water Festival on the Yarra River in Melbourne.  The event attracts the world's best skiers in the disciplines of Slalom, Trick, Jump, Wakeboard and Barefoot, who all vie for the coveted honor of winning a Moomba Masters title.

The event is March 7th thru 12th.  The Junior slalom event prelims are on Wednesday, March 7th and the finals are on Thursday, March 8th.  The winners of the Junior Events qualify to compete in the Elite Events.  Good luck Dane!!!

http://www.moombamasters.com.au/

USA waterski and the Midwest region has recently informed us of several changes that will be implemented for the 2013 ski year.  The first change has to do with when the events need to be sanctioned in order to be in the Regional Guides.  The date has been moved from December 31st to December 15th.  Not all of the info on the sanction needs to be completed by that date, see that pdf below for complete details. 

The second change has to do with missing paperwork.  If paperwork is missing for previous years tournaments, then the LOC's will not be able to sponsor new tournaments until the paperwork is completed.  To aid in getting the paperwork completed, Dave Clark will be setting up an automated email system to send out reminders.  This is currently being done for the 3 event discipline and has worked quite well.  See the pdf below for more details.
 2013 Sanction Deadline changes
 2013 Tournament policy changes

Here are the minutes from the Midwest Winter Meeting on January 14th...

 Midwest Winter Meeting Minutes (1/14/12) (44.5 kB)

The 2012 junior development clinic has been scheduled for June 19th and 20th at Extreme Watersports Center in Cincinnati Ohio.  The instructor for this year's clinic will be Brenda Baldwin.  For details,  go to the Junior Development page.

 The OWSA Fall Meeting was held on November 13th, 2011 at 11:00 am at the Donato's Pizza in Dublin, OH.  Since several people couldn't personally attend due to travel commitments, we tried something new this year.  We had 8 to 10 people at the meeting site in Columbus and we were joined online via "Go to Meeting" by Keri McClure in Florida, Debbie Kern, Gil Ruehl, and Greg Kuenning in Cincy.  It worked out pretty good!  Among the topic discussed at the meeting was the 2012 Tournament schedule, Junior Development and Officials Clinics coming up in 2012.  For a complete details see the attached minutes. 2011 OWSA Fall Meeting Minutes

The WaterSkier published an article this month on the 2011 Buckeye Buoy Tour written by former OWSA President Greg Kuenning.  The schedule is already set for the 2012 Buckeye Buoy Tour and the webpage with details is currently under development.  There are a number of new formats in the works for 2012.  Download the WaterSkier article here:

The OWSA Fall Meeting has been scheduled for November 13th, 2011 at 11:00 at the Donato's Pizza in Dublin, OH.  This meeting will include (among other things)

• 2012 Buckeye Buoy Tour Bids and voting
• 2012 Tournament Schedule will be set
• Committee Chairs to discuss their initiatives for 2012

If you would like to put in a bid for a Buckeye Buoy Tour Stop in 2012, please go to THIS WEBPAGE, read the details of hosting a tour stop, fill out the form, and email it to Greg Kuenning prior to the meeting on November 13th.

Meeting Address:

6 S. High St. (downtown Dublin, corner of High St and Route 161)
Dublin, OH
Phone: (614) 793-1100

The 33rd Collegiate Water Ski National Championships, Oct. 13-15, at Tri-Lakes in Zachary, La.  The competition included 12 teams in Division 1 and 10 teams in Division 2. National team champions were declared in both divisions.  Last year both OSU and UC competed in Division 2 tournament and OSU took the Division 2 National Championships. This year both teams made the jump to division 1.  This was UC first trip to the Division 1 tournament and OSU 1st division 1 appearance in over 20 years.  Both teams made a good appearance, with OSU finishing 7th and UC finishing 8th, which put them as the highest placing schools in Division 1 that does not offer there athletes scholarships.

Ohio Skiers that finished in the top 15 were:

Keri McClure skiing for Florida Southern College
2nd in Womens slalom with 2.5 at 38' off (ALL AMERICAN!)
14th in Womens trick with 1410 points
15th in Womens Jump with 111 feet
6th in Womens Overall with 1450 points

Kyle Dammeyer skiing for OSU:
8th in Mens Slalom with 1.5 at 38' off

Mason Mechler skiing for Arizona State University:
14th in Mens Slalom with 4 at 35' off
11th in Mens Trick with 2580 points
9th in Mens Overall with 1220 NOPS

Ben Van Treese skiing for OSU:
13th in Mens Trick with 1940 points

 NCWSA Collegiate Nationals 2011

To view photos of the event click here

Keri McClure of Van Wert, Ohio who skies for Florida Southern College was named All - American in Slalom by running 2.5 bouys at 38' off and placing second in womens slalom at the 33rd Collegiate Water Ski National Championships which was held Oct. 13-15, at Tri-Lakes in Zachary, La.  The All - American distinction is awarded to the top five finishers in each of the 3 events.  Congratulations Keri!

It was a great weekend for skiers all across Ohio at the Collegiate Regionals.  The Ohio State Water Ski Team took 2nd place and the University of Cincinnati Water Ski Team took 3rd place which qualifies both schools for the D-I National Championships in Baton Rouge, LA next week.  Ohio State is the reining 2010 D-II Champions and will be appearing in their first D-I Nationals since 1981!  UC won the D-II Championship in 2008 and placed 5th in D-II in 2009 and 2010.  This will be the first ever D-I appearance for UC.  Miami University a young, up and coming team, finished 10th at Regionals and will be looking to build some depth for next year to make their own run at Nationals.

Final Results

Scorebook

For the second year in a row, an Ohio school is the Great Lakes Conferance Champion!  Last year, it was Ohio State edging out Purdue, this year it was Bearcats turn.  UC again used the strength of a very solid women's team and a men's team anchored by Chris Van Treese & Zach Schneider to pull off the victory, while Ohio State finished a close second, only 180 points behind.  Purdue rounded out the top 3.

Miami University continued their strong season by finishing 5th in the conference and will advance along with the rest of the top seven from the conference to the Collegiate Midwest Regionals this weekend in Decatur, Illinois.  The top five places at regionals will then advance to the Collegiate Nationals to be held in Baton Rouge, La which will take place Oct 13th thru the 15th.

Final Results

Top 10 Scores from Ohio Skiers:

Women

Men

 Great Lake Conf 2011

BGSU used the strength of a solid mens team to finish 4th at the MSU ripfest held the weekend of September 17th and 18th in Grand Rapids Michigan.  To see how everyone finished up, click on the link below to view the scorebook..

MSU Ripfest scorebook

The 2011 Obrien Big Dawg finals are to be webcast this weekend, September 24 begining at 8:15 pm.  The webcast will begin with recorded segment of the Sweet 16 skiers running their 38' off and shorter passes.  The action will then pick up live with the Elite 8 under the lights at Okeeheelee Park in West Palm Beach, Florida.  Click on the link below to watch the webcast.

Obrien Big Dawg webcast

The University of Cincinnati took down Purdue and defending D-II Champions Ohio State in a big win at the Ball State Tournament this weekend.  With a very solid women's team and a men's team anchored by Chris Van Treese & Zach Schneider Cincinnati looks poised to take another run at the D-II title or possibly even the first D-I appearance by an Ohio team in recent history.  Cincinnati and Ohio State are the only two schools from the Great Lakes Conference to beat Purdue in the last decade.

The return of Miami University to the top of the ranks may be the biggest news story of the weekend!  Miami took 3rd this weekend with impressive performances from first year skiers such as Emily Van Treese and David Daulton.  If Miami can continue to build on their depth, they may be looking to make their own run at the National Championships in the near future!  Miami brought the largest team to the tournament this weekend with over 20 skiers!

The Ohio State University appears to have the strongest men's team in the Midwest taking first place in all 3 events this weekend however they have no support from their women's team.  They only had two women skiers compete this weekend with no women jumpers.  It will be impossible for OSU to return to Nationals on the strength of their men's team alone.  OSU took 4th behind Miami. 

Ohio University appears to have a new spark of life also with new men's skier Branden Von Ins of Ashville, OH and Samantha Ruehl competing in her final season for Ohio.  Like Miami, they just need to expand on their depth. 

Final Results

Top 10 Scores from Ohio Skiers:

Women

Men

The skiers at Skiers cove held a slalom only tournament this past weekend.  Click the link below to see how everyone did.

 Skiers Cove (9/11/11)

The Collegiate 3 Event Season has started this past weekend for several Ohio schools and will be in full swing for the next 3 to 5 weeks.  The Ball State Fall Fling will be held at Van Wert on September 17th and 18th.  The University of Cincinnati is the host school of the Great Lakes Conference Championships  at Van Wert the following weekend.  The Midwest Collegiate Regionals will then be held at from September 30th to October 2nd in Decatur Illinois where everyone will be competing for a chance to represent the Midwest at the Collegiate Nationals in Baton Rouge, La.

Jason Brown will join returning All American, Kyle Dammeyer, Ben VanTreese and Derrick Mclachlin to make OSU one of the strongest mens team in the MIdwest.  The big question is will the Buckeyes have enough women skiers to enable them to make a return trip to Nationals?

Zach Schneider is starting his freshmen year at UC and should make an immediate impact on the team with his strong 3 events skills.  Zach will join returning skiers Chris VanTreese, Jackyln Woniger, AJ Koett, Kacy Clifton, Casey Thress and Laura Boehm to make UC very compettive.

Emily VanTreese is bringing her Trick and Slalom skills to Miami to make them a very competive team this year.  Rumor has it that Miami has a nearly full womens squad and from the results from the opening weekend, they will be a team to look out for.

Check out OWSA's Collegiate page for links to all of Ohio's ski teams as well as links to other midwest and national collegiate websites.

The 2012 Collegiate 3 Event Waterski season got underway this past weekend at the Jepawhit SkiFest in Gaines Township, Michigan.  Four Ohio Colleges competed at the tournament.  Miami placed 3rd, UC 4th, BGSU was 7th and UD took 10th in the 13 team field.  Check out how all of the individual skiers did by clicking on the link below.

Ski Fest Scorebook

The skiers from the NE part of Ohio played hokey from work or school again and went skiing!  Click on the link below to see how everyone did.

 Bootsarosa_09_08_11