Bart's WaterSports 

Indiana WaterSki  Association

2006  Awards Dinner and Fall Banquet

The 2006 IWSA Awards Dinner was held November 4th, at the Primo West Banquet Facility in Plainfield just west of Indianapolis.
 

The event was attended by 102 members of  IWSA and awards were presented to the following skiers.

The Barb Miller Memorial Scholarship was awarded to Molly Harrison

All pictures to the left can be enlarged from the picture link below

Pictures Here

Big Rigger of the Year

        Chase McCain - Chase was named to the Midwest Jr. Team for 2006 in March. Was 1st at state in Boy's 3, 10th at Regionals as the youngest in his division and was named most improved for the year. Chase jumped in 7 different tournaments in Indiana (there was only 8) Saving his best jump of the year at the last tournament at Silent Shores of 131'.  Chase was also the recipient of the Mark Wiggs Memorial Jump Trophy at the state tournament.

Jr. Male Skiers of the Year    

       Andrew Schmitt - Andrew has had another incredible year. He placed 1st in trick, jump and overall at the 2006 state tournament. He also set a new trick and overall record in boys 2 at the state. He defended his title at the 06 Regionals by by placing 1st in trick, jump and overall in boys 2. At the regional banquet Andrew was awarded the Jeff McCollough Scholarship Award which goes to the top male overall skier at Regionals. Andrew was selected to the Jr. Development Team for the 3rd straight year, and also selected for the Midwest All Star National Team. Andrew skied in all three events at the Nationals and placed 9th overall. His best performances were 90 ft - jump, 2960 - trick and 2 @ 22 off in slalom. Quite a resume for  boys 2.

Most Improved Junior Skier

        Clay Schmitt - Clay was named to the Midwest Junior Team for  2006 in August. At the state tournament he was 4th in slalom, 2nd in trick, 3rd in jump and 3rd overall. At Regionals he was 3rd in jump and 5th overall, and made it to Nationals for the first time in all three events in boys 2.

Most Improved Wakeboarder

        Clayton Underwood - Clayton was 1st in Advanced at the NWL Adams/Daily Memorial Tournament in July. 6th at the Outlaw at State in August and 3rd in Outlaw at the 2006 NWL National Championships. Now that's progress.

Wakeboard skier of the Yeaar

        Ashlan Pagden - Ashlan traveled from Anderson In. to Washington and representing the US, placed 2nd in the Girls WWA World Wakeboard Championships. Placed 1st in NWL National Championships in Women,s Intermediate which was held in Muncie In.

NSL Skier of the Year

         Andrea Brown - Andrea is always a pleasure to be around. Always smiling, always working to improve. Andrea skied in every NSL Monday Night Ski League held at Fairland (11 of them). Weather it was cold, windy, rainy, or gloomy, Andrea was at the dock with her ski in hand picking up the spirits of others and loving every minute of it.

NSL Male Skier of the Year

        Jerry Hodges - Fairland met this skier last year. Jerry attended almost every event last year as well as most all the events this year at the Fairland Monday night Ski League Sessions. Improvements started slow but he was always improving. Jerry was winded to only 4 passes in the beginning and now takes two full sets making more buoys than ever before. Jerry's a joy to be around and always offing help around the dock.

NSL National Coordinator of the Year

        Dave Jarrett - Dave, a former NSL skier of the Year himself took the task of coordinating NSL events at Fairland Ski Club. He put together 12 events in Indiana himself. 3 more than any other Coordinator in the country.  Dave is the driving force behind the success of the Monday NIght Ski activities. Dave does all the paperwork, organization, and puts a lot of his own time and money into running the show. As the events started to overcrowd the Fairland site, Dave or the Fairland Club for that matter didn't turn away anyone, So what did Dave do? - He found another lake to accommodate all the skiers. At the events he coordinated the food and drinks and which was always served with a warm smile. Dave earned a trip to the Pro Am Challenge held in Florida, Skied on a team made up of others from his home state, Don Bucher, Mark Qualkinbush and Jeff Klinkhammer, and placed 2nd on the team championships with pro skier Jason Seals.

Club of the Year

        Fairland Ski Club - Fairland hosted 11 of the 12 NSL events in Indiana. Known as their Monday Night Ski League. Fairland also has held the Spring Fling at the site for the last 9-10 years. They also hosted the first ever Purdue Alumni Tournament which has really taken off to be a great event. These people at this club (I wish I could name them all) show great spirit and dedication to a great sport with their unselfishness to give up their lake one night a week to provide a place for others to learn to ski. - congratulations....

Official of the Year

         Jim Beck - Jim has taken on a bunch of officials tasks. He was chief driver of the state tournament, helped officiate at 2 other tournaments, 3 collegiate tournaments and administered 2 drivers upgrade tests and was the Technical Controller for the 2nd straight year at the Midwest Regionals as well as TC at Sawmill Fall Record. Jim also continues to keep the web site updated with all the latest news from around the state and serves on the board as representative to the Mid West Region.

Slalom Skier of the Year

         Casey Contos -  Casey won this award last year for such a great season, setting a state tournament record in men's 1  with 2 at 39 off. Well guess what. He has done it all again. Sweeping the state tournament, regional tournament and nationals with first place finishes, makes him  two for two at nationals. We put the pressure on for a three-peat....

Female Skier of the Year

        Philippa Shedd - Philippa set a new state record in slalom. She also tied the National record of 3 buoys at 38 off twice in record capability tournaments. Philippa went to the World Senior Trophy Tournament in South Africa and skied for her homeland team of Great Brittan. There she set a new Europe, Africa and Middle East slalom record of 1 at 38 off. She went on to win tricks with 3550, and jump of 30.2  meters ( 95' ?) good enough to win the Senior 2 Women's Overall.

Male Skier of the Year

        Tom Danford - Tom set a new state record in tricks and overall this year while hosting the State Championships at his home site. Tom won the Men's 4 overall title at the Nationals for the 2nd consecutive year. With that performance Tom was invited to the Pan Am games in Mexico as well as the World Senior Trophy Tournament in  Africa. At the Pan Am's Tom skied 7th in slalom, 7th in tricks, 4th in jump for 4th overall to help the US team win the gold. At the World Senior Trophy Tom picked it up a notch taking 4th in slalom, 2nd in tricks and 8th in jump to give him the gold in overall, and helping the US to gold over Great Brittan.

Outstanding Skier of the Year

         Cale Burdick - Ya can't say enough about this guy. Cale helped with Jr. Development clinic and has had an impact on all the kids at the clinic. At the Collegiate All-Stars in May he defended his 2005 slalom title, was 2nd in tricks, and tied for 2nd in jump with team mate Kurtis Threlkeld, and 2nd overall for a 1st ever Midwest All-Stares Championship. At state he set a new trick record of 4970 points. At Nationals in the Open Division he was just 2.5 buoys behind the world record holder for 2nd place in slalom. Was 5 feet of overtaking a former world record holder in jump with a leap of 191 on a 5.5 ramp. In Sept. he set a new Great Lakes Conference Men's Slalom Record and a new regionals Collegiate record of 1 @ 41 off. At the Pan Am Games in Mexico on the 21- under team he won the gold in slalom a bronze in jump and a silver in overall. In Oct. Cale won his second national Collegiate slalom title with 2 @ 41 off, 6 buoys ahead of 2nd place as Purdue fought off some injuries this year to finish 6th in Division one...

Definatly Worth Mentioning

          Jerry Hodges - Not only was Jerry recognized as one of IWSA's most popular NSL skiers this year, Jerry had the lucky ticket to the new Connelly ski donated to the banquet by PineCrest. Good luck to Jerry with his new ski, we look forward to Jerry to push the limits next year on his new ride.