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Which freshman made the biggest impact on their team this year in the MCWSA? Maybe they put up big scores, or brought in some new talent!
Be sure to tell us why you think your nomination should be selected!
I nominate Matthew Duncan, Ohio State.
Coming in as someone who had never seen 3 event skiing, Matt made an instant difference. I doubt there are many people out there that can say they went from never seeing a jump ramp, to singling 82 feet in under two months. Matt also picked up slalom and has tournament scores as high as 3 buoys at 34 mph.
Joey Neubaum- WMU
You know how it is kind of difficult to find people who want to join the waterski team, let alone send their body off a 5 ft ramp? After our first new member meeting, Joey walks up to me and simply says, “okay, where can I pay my dues?” Ever since his first meeting, Joey was always there. Despite our challenges this season, Joey skied as much as he could, came to all the tournaments, and always was there to cheer people on, and ended the season with a 43 foot PB in jump!Sage Stickley from Ohio State came in with little previous water ski experience and quickly proved that she had the courage, dedication, and athleticism to be an incredible jumper. She was our fifth round jumper even at the beginning of the season, despite competing for the spot against skiers with twice as much experience. When our team needed another trick skier, Sage picked it up almost as quickly as she learned to jump. Even when she was injured, she never faltered and performed at incredible levels.
Joey Neubaum- WMU
Joe came into this season as someone who brings the entertainment and the energy. He is someone who always breaks the ice to everyone conversations (and once you start one about waterskiing, good luck getting out of it). All joe wanted to do was learn more and more about jumping. He was always the last one to go to bed, and the first one up without losing any excitement throughout the weekend. Joe is someone who always knows how to put a smile on your face no matter the situation. His fearlessness on the ramp is what makes him the rookie of year with his amazing performance as he grasp jumping like he was born to do it. Joe was our most consistent rookie jumper and definitely the most supportive!Genevieve Kromm- Michigan
It is very rare to see a freshman skiing A team in all 3 events. What’s even rarer is if that freshman has never competitively water skied before, or even been on a ski course, trick ski OR jump at all before the summer, and then is still A team in 3 events on a nationally qualifying team. Genevieve had performances that were competitive with girls and guys on our team that had been skiing for years, and she was just in her first couple of weeks of competing. All of her landed jumps and posted scores in all 3 events all season were enormous for Michigan’s women in taking 5th at regionals and helping our team to qualify for nationals, where she went on to jump 36 feet and also PB in trick. When she wasn’t stomping jumps or shredding Genevieve consistently brought spirit and a lot of positive energy to every ski event all fall!Ohio State had an awesome recruiting class this year, it was honestly hard to pick just two! We’re so lucky to have such fun and athletic newbies!
For the girls, Devin Reeves was a huge asset to our team this year. She came in with a show skiing background, already knowing how to trick which was really exciting! Devin was at the lake practicing all the time this year, which really shows her dedication to the team. She was able to easily pick up jumping, almost breaking that 50’ mark this year, and also learned how to run a pass. Devin was at every tournament, cheering loudly for all her teammates. She is a natural born leader, and I know she’ll do awesome things for this team in her next few years. She is definitely an outstanding rookie!
Curtis Kolb came in and swept the competition this year. He podiumed in slalom at every tournament, including bringing home 3rd place in DII Nationals (only half a buoy off 2nd and a single buoy from 1st). Not only did Curtis quietly and humbly slay buoys, but he was a key member of our men’s trick team and got *pumped* about jump. Prior to September, he had never been over the ramp. While the team held their breath as we watched our top slalomer hit the ramp, Curtis casually stomped a landing on his second try ever. From there, he only got better. By Nationals not even two months later, he was kicking his way to 56 feet. Curtis was arguably our most valuable skier this year, and as a freshman in a five-year engineering program, I can only imagine the feats he’ll be pulling by the end of his collegiate ski career.
For the boys, I’d have to say Matt Duncan (Ohio State) really stood out as an outstanding rookie. Matt came into school with no experience jumping. Literally within a few weeks he was booting 70s consistently, and got a PB of 82 feet at nationals. By his second tournament he was beating out 3rd and 4th year veterans. His natural athletic ability is crazy, and he’ll be a huge asset for the team for years to come. Matt is a natural leader, and I can’t wait to see what he does in the future!
Luke Robert- University of Illinois
The University of Illinois had a lot of new members this past season and we had one freshman who stood out. Luke continued to amaze us in tournaments. He had never jumped before and at the first tournament he landed a jump of 38ft(this was without any practice jumps before) then at Conference he PBed again with 43ft on his second jump and for his 3rd he decided to cut into the ramp because he was bored with just riding over. Anyone that was at the Great Plains conference knows that the weather was horrible. Trick ended up getting cut short because it was dark and rainy, but not until the 4th round was over. In these horrible conditions Luke PBed with a trick score of 200, many of the tricks being ones he hadn’t done before. At conference he also was our best slalom score with 5.5 bouys 15off going 26mph which was 3.5 more bouys than his previous PB.
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