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2025 Ralph Samuelson Minnesota State Waterski Championships
Here is the running order for this year's State Tournament.
The entrance to the site is off of 360th Street. Parking is anywhere between the lakes and north of the tennis court. If you use 15198 356th Street, Center City, MN 55012 as a GPS mapping point, that will get you on the south side of the lake, and you will be able to find 360th Street on your map for the North Entrance and parking.
You are also invited to attend the Annual Meeting and Awards Banquet on Saturday Evening at the Chisago Lakes Town Hall. The banquet will begin approximately 1 hour after skiing concludes on Saturday. The MWSA will be providing a Taco Buffet for dinner. All skiers receive a complimentary ticket for the banquet, non-skiers and guests can purchase a ticket for a $10 donation. The address for the Chisago Lakes Town Hall is 12400 316th Street, Lindstrom, MN 55045.
Junior US Open
25th Junior U.S. Open Water Ski Championships Set For June 27-29, 2025
The 25th Junior U.S. Open Water Ski Championships will be held June 27-29, 2025, at Skyview Lake in Harmony, N.C. For the second consecutive year, the Junior U.S. Open Water Ski Championships will be 1 round of prelims with 12 qualified skiers in each event, and 1 final round of 5 skiers. The event features Junior Men/Junior Women (U21) and Boys/Girls (U17) divisions. Some of the world's top junior water ski athletes are expected to compete for titles in slalom, tricks, jumping and overall.
For more information: https://www.usawaterski.org/jr-us-open
Congratulations to Ty Kosek for qualifying in Jump for the U21 World Championships that will take place at Predator Bay, Calgary, Canada from July 28-August 3.
Congratulations to Brandon Schipper for qualifying in Jump for the Elite World Championships that will take place at Parco Nautico del Sesia, Recetto, Italy from 26th to 31st August 2025.
More information can be found by clicking here.
Congratulations to Ty Kosek!
Congratulations Ty Kosek for your selection to the U21 World Championship Team. The tournament will be held July 28 to August 3 in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
2025 AWSA National Junior Water Ski Team
Congratulations to Giovanni Bloyer, Bode Bulfer and George Bulfer for being selected to the 2025 AWSA National Junior Water Ski Team. Selection is based on 2024 performances.
Scholarship Alert
Scholarship Alert! John R. Van Gieson Memorial Scholarship
$2500
This scholarship was established in 2022 in memory of John R. Van Gieson. John was an avid water skier and was happiest when he was out on the water. John's wife has established this scholarship to help water ski athletes to pursue a college education.
This annual scholarship will be given to a qualifying individual (male or female) from the Midwest Region who attends a two or four-year accredited college or university and water skis in AWSA and/or NCWSA tournaments.
APPLY HERE:
https://www.usa-wwf.org/ourscholarships
Congratulations to Paul Chapin for taking the Bronze medal in 70+ Men's Slalom at the 35+ World Water Ski Championships in Spain.
Congratulations to Steve Nelson for taking the Gold Medal in 75+ Tricks at the 35+ World Water Ski Championships in Spain.
Congratulations to Craig Timm for setting a pending (and rad) World Record in Jump at The USA Adaptive Water Ski & Wake Sports Inc. National Championships of 112 feet.
May Board Meeting
Be sure to mark your calendars and join us for our next board meeting of the 2025 Ski Season. This meeting will be held virtually, via Zoom, and all MWSA Members are invited to attend and participate.
Topic: MWSA
Time: May 14, 2025 07:00 PM Central Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89778985217?pwd=cOdUbXQB76qr0XTEiAL2RVyGn05b30.1
2025 Tournament Schedule (Tentative)
Below is the tentative tournament schedule. Please keep in mind that these dates could change as events are sanctioned, but should give you a fairly good idea as to what the summer ski season will look like. These dates have also been posted to the calendar on this website if you have the RSS feed established to your personal calendars.
| Tournament | Dates | Location |
|---|---|---|
| Greater Midwest Open | June 21-22, 2025 | Trophy Lake Estates IV - New Germany, MN |
| Chippewa Falls | June 20-21, 2025 | Chippewa Falls, WI |
| 10k Lakes Pick and Choose | June 28-29, 2025 | Quarry Lake - Shakopee, MN |
| Center City Warmup/Record | July 11-13, 2025 | Trophy Lake Estates III - Center City, MN |
| Minnesota State Tournament | July 18-20, 2025 | Trophy Lake Estates III - Center City, MN |
| Midwest Regionals | July 25-27, 2025 | Mystic Lakes - Maize, KS |
| Goode Nationals | August 5-9, 2025 | Ski West Village - Arvin, CA |
| Fall 2 Round | September 6-7, 2025 | TBD |
PanAm Tournament
Congratulations to Ries Bloyer and Giovanni Bloyer for competing at the 2024 IWWF PanAm Championships in Bogota, Colombia.
Reis placed 6th in Slalom, 4th in Tricks, 3rd in Jump and 3rd Overall in the U14 division. The U14 Team took the Gold in the Competition.
Giovanni placed 13th in Slalom, 5th in Tricks, tied for 7th in Jump, and 4th Overall in the U17 division. The U17 Team took the Gold in the Competition.
Congratulations to Darren Janzig for being chosen to be a driver at the event.
Making A Splash In Competitive Water Skiing
Looking Back - 1974 Saucier Cup
By Paul Chapin
Fifty years ago this month, July 1974, 40,000 water ski fans lined the shores of Lake of the Isles in Minneapolis to watch the best skiers in the world compete for $25,000 in prize money in the Saucier International Cup, water skiing’s richest cash prize tournament.
The top male and female skiers in the world were invited including the 1973 Mens World Overall and slalom champion George Athans, 1973 Women’s World Overall champion the late Lisa St John , and many other world champions, record holders, and national champions. In the end Wayne Grimditch took home $9400 winning the Mens overall with firsts in slalom and jump and a third in tricks. The late Liz Allan Reid won $4100 and the Women’s Overall title with a victory in slalom, a second in jumping and a third in tricks.
It was a very exciting event to watch and I along with some skiers Cindy Rott, Nancy Hagen, Renee Saucier, Brad Wahl and Steve “Sox” Farkas were invited to ski before each event as forerunners. I can assure you that it’s quite a feeling to ski with the shore lined with so many thousands of people watching, just like a huge ski show!
Lake of the Isles was the site of the 1960 and 1965 National Championships and the very popular Aquatennial tournament held every summer from 1955 to 1974. Local skier Dave Saucier and his wife Billi manufactured the popular skis and unfortunately the company declared bankruptcy in the following year ending a very successful run.
Be sure to visit the Facebook post to see the program book!
Roger Wahl's 90th Borthday
Thank you to Evelyn Duvall for sharing these photos!
Access the survey by clicking on the link below
The American Water Ski Association wants your feedback on competition water skiing.
AWSA has formed the Competition Task Force. The job of this committee will be to study the competitive side of the sport and to come up with new and fresh ideas. This committee needs your feedback as it re-evaluates the rankings list, our division structure, how skiers qualify for regionals and nationals and ways to bring more fun and competition to tournaments.
Your feedback is very important. Please click on the link below to complete the survey. At the end of the survey leave your email and name to be entered in a drawing to win a FREE GOODE Ventura ski.
Share Photos of your Skiing With Us Today!
Send your photos to steve@webergolf.net!
We look forward to seeing you all soon at a tournament!
Helpful Links
To provide our skiers with quick links to popular websites, we recommend the following pages. Please be sure to visit them for up to date information on our sport!
Join Our Email List!
If you have not already done this, please click on the link on the top left of this website (Become a Member). If you already have a SportsEngine account through another sport, you can use that same user name and password for this site too! Just link your profiles once you are logged in. Once you are a member of this website, you will receive all communications through the emails associated with your SportsEngine log in. To add additional emails, go to your account settings once you are logged in (top left of page). Thanks!
Regional and National Officials
Congratulations to our officials that will represent MN at Regionals and Nationals!
Regional Chief Driver - Darren Janzig
Regional Assignment Coordinator - Kate Knafla
Regional Appointed Drivers - Chris Kosek, George Lindy
National Appointed Scorer - Kate Knafla
National Appointed Drivers - Darren Janzig, George Lindy
Sponsors
MWSA recognizes sponsors who have helped MWSA support the growth and development of water skiing in Minnesota. Please be sure to visit and patronize these businesses!
