2019 Great Plains Conference Championship

The Great Plains Conference fought through the rain this last weekend at their annual championship in Cambridge, Iowa.  Iowa State University hosted 17 teams looking to snag one of those top 9 spots to punch their ticket to regionals the following weekend. The competition was fierce and scores were high.  

Saturday started with Men’s A Slalom and Women’s A jump.  On the slalom lake, The University of Wisconsin – La Crosse senior Hunter Duffy ran away with first place with a score of 1.5 buoys at 35 off.  Following closely behind was Iowa State’s own blonde hair beauty Ryan Schipper with a score of 4.5 buoys at 32 off. Rounding off the top 3 was The University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire skier Tyler Mueller with a score of 2 buoys at 22 off.  

While the men were making their left and rights, we had Women’s A jump getting sendy over on the jump lake. University of Iowa skier Hope LaMonica leaped into first place with a 63-foot jump.  Following closely in second was University of Minnesota skier Hannah Janzing with a 59-foot booter. Snagging the bronze was Iowa State’s freshman Amanda Luttschwager with a 55-foot jump.  

Next, Men’s and Women’s trick ran simultaneously Saturday afternoon.  For the men, University of Wisconsin – Madison skier Reid Miller took the gold with a massive score of 1,490 points. Following Reid was University of Wisconsin – La Crosse skier with the luscious golden locks, Hunter Duffy, with a score of 1,080 points.  Finishing our podium, we had another University of Wisconsin – La Crosse skier, Erick Sells, come into third with 1,040 points. As for the women, University of Minnesota skier Hannah Janzing ran away with first place with a 2,110-point run. Following, freshman Amanda Luttschwager proved to everyone that Iowa State can indeed trick – putting up 1,270 points. Coming into third we had Kansas University skier Melissa Hamilton with a 960-point run.

Sunday morning skiers arose from their wet tents and walked down to their respective docks. West lake started with Women’s A slalom. Iowa State skier Amanda Luttschager secured her first-place medal with a score of 2 buoys at 32 off.  Next, we had University of Minnesota skier Hannah Janzig take second place with a score of 4 buoys at 28 off. Finishing out our podium we had Kansas University skier Melissa Hamilton with a score of 3 buoys at 35 mph 15 off. Over on the East lake, Men’s A jumpers were soaring, fighting for their own chance at the podium.  Iowa State sophomore Ryan Schipper leap into first with a 131-foot boot. Following him closely in score and looks we had University of Wisconsin – La Crosse senior Hunter Duffy with a 124-foot jump. In third place we had University of Wisconsin – La Crosse skier Evan Marcus place for brunettes on the podium with a 104 foot leap. 

For our team results we had University of Wisconsin – La Crosse take home the coveted Great Plains Conference championship with 12,765 team points.  Second place went to University of Wisconsin – Madison with 11,050 team points. Third place was secured by host team Iowa State University with 10,200 team points.

Great Plains teams rounded off the remaining 6 spots to advance to Regionals the following weekend in Decatur, Illinois (By Placement):

• Marquette University
• University of Nebraska
• University of Wisconsin – Stout
• University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire
• Kansas University
• Wichita State University (New team!) 

View the full event scorebook on USAWaterski.org as 9 teams advance on their journey to Nationals. #BellAcquaorBust