Nominees for Female Athlete of the Year
Kristen Dammeyer, The Ohio State University
Kristen has nearly a 4.0 GPA as a chemistry major, and scored a near-perfect on her MCAT. She’s just as smart as she is talented at water skiing!
Placed first in all three events at every tournament (except nationals); first overall in every tournament (except nationals); captain of Midwest all star team for 2018; her hometown news channel came to conference at Van Wert to showcase her talents, and spread awareness of collegiate water skiing!
Margot Flowers, Miami University
Margot Flowers has been a member of the Miami Waterski Team since her sophomore year. When Margot joined the team she had never hit a jump ramp or touched trick skis. She started jumping soon after joining the team and immediately became addicted. She began her senior year as a both a trick and jump skier. Margot spent countless hours at our lake practicing and jumping. She would come home with a new bruise, or two, after every practice.
To Margot, it wasn’t just about coming in 2nd at the Ball State Fling, getting 3rd at regionals or 5th at nationals, and making the podium at almost every tournament. To Margot it was the excitement of getting to jump with all of her best friends cheering her on. It was being able to push herself and work towards the next tournament.
No matter if she landed or fell, Margot was always having fun, and got a new Personal Best this season of a 62 foot jump. Margot’s involvement on the team goes so much further beyond her skiing. She is a leader on the executive board as well as the ultimate welcoming committee. She reaches out to almost every new skier to ensure they feel like they are a part of the team. Margot has put more effort and passion into this sport and this team than anyone else I’ve met. She’s an incredible inspiration as an athlete, teammate, and overall good person.
- 2nd Place – Women’s Jump – Ball State Fling
- 3rd Place – Women’s Jump – Midwest Regional Championship
- 5th Place – Women’s Jump – Division II National Championship
Erika Lang, Rollins College
She is the basis for a proposed new world unifying measuring system! Oh, and she set a new women’s trick record!
Hanna Straltsova, University of Louisiana at Monroe
Won slalom, jump, and overall at nationals. She broke the collegiate national jump record. As a freshman this a huge feat since she broke it at the nationals with the amount of pressure that was on her, and the team on her shoulders.
She is an very humble individual and an incredible athlete. Literally saw her compete in the cable Europeans, and then flew straight to Austria for the boat Europeans, and then a few weeks later NCWSA Nationals, achieving incredible results in all. To take a gold medal in slalom, a national record in jump, and top 5 in tricks was so impressive to watch!
Nominees for Male Athlete of the Year
Danylo Filchenko, University of Louisiana at Monroe
Danylo has always been a strong skier, but has rocketed to the top this year. With a consistently strong performance in tricks (average of 5900 points). He has also been working hard to become a better slalom skier, consistently getting into deep 35, Filchenko worked very hard and got a new personal best at 3 @ 11m. His jumping has really taken off with a last year average in the 160’s, he now is ranked #2 in NCWSA collegiate men’s jumping.
Danylo’s not just a great skier, but he takes time to help with recruiting, and always at the Bayou helping our skiers in the boat as they progress.
Samuel Greenwood, University of Alabama
While he is a senior mechanical engineering student at Alabama, he has improved all of his scores in Slalom, Tricks and Jump! Slalom has seen an improvement of over a pass better, Tricks has gained another 900 pts, and JUMP has seen the biggest improvement, going from a solid 150’s to a East Region record 182 at Nationals! Sam represented the USA at Uni Worlds scoring 3rd Overall (the highest of the USA team), Serves as the NCWSA Co-Chair of the AAC and is a member of the NCWSA Board of Directors, in addition to being his Team’s Captain for 2 years, a Senior 3 event Judge and working every tournament as a volunteer. Side note: Jump Record for the Eastern Region was set 9/19/1998 and Sam was 2.5 yrs old!
- 2017 NCWSA All-Stars: 2nd in Slalom, 1st in Trick, 5th in Jump, 1st in Overall
- 2017 Connelly Skis NCWSA Nationals (D1): 24th in Slalom, 6th in Trick, 2nd in Jump, 7th in Overall
- Eastern Regionals: 6th in Slalom, 5th in Trick, 2nd in Overall
- Bama Bonanza: 1st in all events and overall and was tournament director for the event!
- Auburn Extravaganza: 2nd in Slalom, 2nd in Trick, 1st in Jump, 1st in Overall
He skied and helped lead his team in every tournament this past season. Unlike some athletes who may only show up to Regionals and Nationals. Coming from someone who was completely new to competitive skiing going into college, it’s people like Sam and the rest of the Greenwood family that have inspired me and many other new skiers to get so involved with the sport by showing their passion for skiing with how much they help out with NCWSA.
Richard Hollocher, University of Kansas
He was the captain and president of KU, and jumped over 90 feet while setting personal bests at multiple consecutive tournaments.
Nathan Kelm, Texas State University
Swept Division 2 podium at 2017 Nationals.
Austin Kolodejcak, Texas A&M University
Jumped 130 ft, ran into 32 off, drove boat for b team, and helped as an assistant judge.
Skied all 8 lakes in Houston area over the summer, and he continually gets equipment for team!
Jared Lutz, Miami University
Jared Lutz has been an integral skier for Miami since his freshman year. As a junior, Jared slalomed and tricked for the team. Even with equipment malfunctions on his slalom ski, Jared continues to amaze our team with his skiing. His never-give-up attitude inspires all around him. He’s been around this sport since his early childhood, and he has been passionate about it the whole way through. Jared’s excellence as a skier does not stop with his own success. Jared also regularly coaches other slalom skiers, sharing what he’s learned over the past 19 years with the rest of the team. He truly feels that his success is centered around the success of his team. He is passionate, supportive, and intelligent. He always makes sure that he, and the rest of his teammates, are prepared to give their best performance at any competition. His hard work and dedication have helped to deliver us to two consecutive National Championships, and we could not be more grateful.
- 1st – Men’s Slalom – Southern Ohio Challenge
- 2nd – Men’s Slalom – Ball State Fling
- 5th – Men’s Slalom – Midwest Regional Championship
- 7th – Men’s Slalom – Division II National Championship
Jose Luis Tejada, Purdue University
Men’s overall at regionals, placed at every tournament in every event (usually first) and in every overall. I don’t remember the individual places.
- Ball state fling: 3rd slalom, 1st trick, 1st jump, 1st overall.
- Great Lakes conference: 2nd slalom, 3rd trick, 1 jump, 2nd overall.
- Midwest regionals: 6th slalom, 2nd trick, 2nd jump, 1st overall
Really great asset for Purdue scoring, but also a has really opened up since the first tournament, and has been a great teammate. Encourages everyone, is always positive, and he’s a great student.
- Holiday Surprise: Back to Bennett’s for 2023 Collegiate Nationals! - December 22, 2022
- 2022 NCWSA Awards – Call for Nominations! - October 14, 2022
- NCWSA Nationals Webcast is Live! - October 13, 2022
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