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I would like to nominate Mitchell Hack. MSU’s women’s captain and self proclaimed “Best Women’s Captain in NA”, I have never met someone who cares more others individual success than Mitch. Whether he is announcing at Nationals (Yes with Tony) cheering on all the skiers from all of the teams, or make sure that our newest skier is in the right headspace to get up on skis for the first time, Mitchell is there. I remember at Conferences, everyone wanted to go to Mexico, however we still had over five women’s B-skier’s who needed to ski. Mitch did not move from his post, as all the other teams and some of his teammates were leaving he stood on that dock making sure that every skier got the same opportunity and felt the same excitement everyone should feel getting pulled out of the water for the first time! Mitchell is one of the most supportive members of the waterski community and more than deserving of this award.
I would like to nominate Drew Budzynski. Most people go to college because they want a degree and happen to waterski. Drew goes to MSU to Waterski. No we do not offer scholarships, but Drew is here for the skiing. I don’t think there is someone who loves waterskiing more than Drew and I would not be shocked in the slightest if he ended up in the Pro-Circuit one day.
I would like to nominate Aidan Hughes. Aidan is not just a great skier, but also a great teammate. Aidan’s skiing ability speaks for itself, just based on the numbers he is clearly the best overall skier in the Midwest region. Outside of that watching him compete is a spectacle for everyone, watching him on a trick ski hypnotic the flips he throws and the runs he has created theres no wonder that he is the Midwest trick record-holder (yes he got that side-slide). Watching him jump is the cherry on top, at regionals this year he crushed his PB when he jumped 134ft where everyone stood still while watching him soar through the air. His slalom expertise is also hard to match in the midwest. As a teammate he helped to improve everyone who skied for us, whether it was a day on the river practicing or just the words you need to hear after taking a fall while jumping he was a rock for many of us, also without him we would not have made it to nationals this year. There are few people who are more deserving that Aidan for this award, which is why I hope that you take my nomination into consideration. Thank you.
I would like to nominate the Michigan State University Waterski Team for the most improved team award. As a team we have had essentially a full rebuild in less than a year. Last season we were 6th place at conferences and finished in 12th at regionals failing to qualify for nationals. In addition we were only able to put together a full women’s A team for every event for regionals that year. We had only 3 A team women skiers at Allentucky.
This year we had a full shift in team culture. We had a full women’s A-team and multiple women’s B-team skiers at every tournament. Our new and the few returning women skiers, helped make our scores competitive at every tournament and deserve so much praise for stepping up and preforming at Regionals with every women at least running a full mini course!
We had one of the most successful Spartan Ripfest’s with 427 pulls! This was thanks to our super dedicated old team members and new team members who jumped right into this wonderful community and helped bring MSU Waterski back to its rightful place as a powerhouse in the Midwest!
In addition to this our men’s team jumped from 10th in the region to flighting with Madison for 1st all season. In the nation we ended the season ranked 9th! Our men’s slalom team finished the season ranked 8th in the nation, only behind ULL, ULM, Alabama, Florida Southern, ASU, Clemson and Rollins (All warm weather schools, with all year ski access). In addition we saw a huge jump in our Men’s trick team, with only one skier scoring over 500 points last year (Aidan Hughes, who should also be the region MVP). This year we had all of our A-team Men’s skiers trick over 500 points at some point in the season! It should also be noted that MSU does not have jump to practice on and all of our men’s A team skiers jump over 55 feet (last year not counting Aidan, we had no one land over 50ft if I remember correctly)
Thanks to our stellar mens and women teams (and thanks to huge jumps from our men on the last day) we were able to secure 6th place at Regionals where we qualified for Nationals in a year where none of the projections had us making it! While at Nationals we had a blast securing 6th place, while getting our team prepared for the upcoming season where we are set to take a stab at the D2 national championship or possibly a bid at D1 nationals!
I cannot say enough about the great men and women who make up our team and the excellent support we had from returning skiers welcoming in key new members to the team. I think that the turn around on paper looks nice, but the real turn around and improvement took place with the number of new members and the family that we have built here within the MSU Waterski Team.
Thank you for your consideration and Go Green!