UW-Madison Turns Up the Heat at Northwoods Classic

This past weekend, seven Midwestern teams traveled up to Minnesota to ski in the inaugural Northwood’s Classic hosted by University of Wisconsin – Stout. Stout’s first hosted tournament brought skiers up to the beautiful Trophy Lake Estates III, just outside Center City, MN. Teams were very excited to have access to a new site that required less travel than usual. Those competing were northern Midwest schools, including UW – Lacrosse, Iowa State, UW-Madison, UW – Eau Claire, Marquette, Minnesota, and host team UW – Stout . Our new hosts were wonderful and welcoming!

Although winds and rain brought a chill to the weekend, this didn’t stop skiers from bringing the heat to the water. The tournament kicked off with Slalom, where several PB’s from the team brought UW-Madison to an early lead. This included freshman Olivia Jahn, who dominated the course at her very first tournament. Madison’s lead continued throughout Trick, aided by top scores from Jack Ralph, Sam Smogard, and Madeline Garrison. UW-Lacrosse remained in a close second, helped by impressive efforts from Hunter Duffy and sibling duo Evan and Natalie Marcus.

As usual, the weekend continued with a fierce Jump competition on Sunday. Iowa State showed their skills on the ramp as Tiera Salitros brought home a first place title with a 60-foot jump, followed by her teammate Amber Aho, who sailed 58 feet. Cameron Baxter (IWS) also took first in jump, flying a whopping 127 feet and crushing his previous personal best. However, in the end, it wasn’t enough to knock UW Madison’s impressive lead as all five members of their Men’s Jump team brought home new personal bests, led by Raefe Gross’ 96-footer.

After all the skiing, with UW – Madison at the top, here is where the rest of the teams landed, and you can check out the full scorebook on USA Water Ski’s website.

1. University of Wisconsin – Madison
2. University of Wisconsin – La Crosse
3. Iowa State University
4. Marquette University
5. University of Wisconsin – Stout
6. University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire
7. University of Minnesota

As fall temperatures cool the air, UW-Madison made it clear that they have no intentions of cooling off themselves. The rest of us can’t wait to see if they can continue to bring their A game at next weekend’s Conference tournament!