Well, we concluded the 2023 SCR Water Ski Championships Saturday afternoon at Austin Aquaplex, with great success, fanfare, and exuberance. With 161 skiers participating this year, we had 5 regional records submitted and two potential National records.
Marty Gray, the extraordinary M6 skier, had two standup trick runs that pushed the national record into a review and certification process that exhibited the caliber of SCR skiers. Marty’s score of 4850 pts exceeds the record Don Parson set in 2014 at 4830 pts. In addition to Marty, Aquaplex’s own, Floyd McCreight easily pushed around 4 buoys at 28 off (14.25m) at 28 mph to surpass Ed Fisher’s 2021 national record of 3.5 buoys at that rope length as well as increasing the regional overall record to 2378.7 NOPS. Jennifer Mears, W9, scored 290 pts which is being reviewed as the new regional trick record is a regional and tournament record. Jade Hanson, W1, established a new slalom record of 1 buoy at 38 off (11.25m) at 34 mph. All these scores will be reflected in the regional tournament record list.
The regional summer meeting finalized the election results for directors and EVP for the next terms. Julie Krueger was elected EVP and Keith Lindemulder was elected Vice-EVP. Robert Howerton will serve a 3-year term as director with Kevin “Woody” Withrow as the alternate director. The winter meeting site location will be confirmed in Katy, TX in early January with details to be confirmed by Julie. There continues to be a search for a 2024 SCR Championship site and based on entries this year a one lake site is a very acceptable option. If any clubs have an interest, contact Julie or the area coordinator for details. Please be alert for future communications from Julie on this and other topics shared through both this website and the Facebook page.
Part of the consistency in communication with the SCR board has established the primary contact information for the EVP, Julie Krueger, will continue to use the screvp@gmail.com for all business related to the region. Robert has confirmed that support during the transition will be available as several topics related to the region are ongoing include Standings List cut-off dates and scores, SafeSport verification, and IAC events coming this fall which require continued support. Julie’s term begins at the AWSA Summer Meeting in West Palm Beach but will be monitoring the email during the interim.
For those in attendance at the tournament, it was reported that Mike Thompson was released from the hospital Sunday morning. His typical smiling and laughing disposition was evident during the phone conversation even after surgery for spleen and rib injuries. Mike shared the prognosis as he should make a full recovery and plans to be back stirring up the chatter on the starting dock soon.
For all those travelling to nationals in West Palm Beach, please know we have a great crew of officials and seasoned skiers again this year that are available to help with many questions, issues or problems that may appear. We wish all those attending a safe and successful trip. Please share photos and updates through screvp@gmail.com so that we can keep the region informed about a wonderful 2023 season that includes many amazing performances, personal bests, records and awards.