COLLEGIATE TOURNAMENT NEWS

10/03/96 Sparta, Virginia

1996 EASTERN COLLEGIATE WATERSKI CHAMPIONSHIPS

by Steve Lohr

The Bates College Team stormed into the Sparta area on Friday to capture their first Eastern Region Championship, and their first opportunity to participate in a National Championship. Virginia Tech has consistently captured the honors, and had expectations of maintaining the tradition, but Bates’s spirited skiers had different plans.

The Regional Championships were held at Timberlake just east of Sparta, Virginia on September 28, 1996. Virginia Tech and the Timberlake Water Ski Club shared the responsibilities of hosting the championship tournament. Other participating colleges included Penn State and the University of Connecticut.

Competition started with the Slalom event, where Bates College dominated in both the mens and womens events. Bates’s Stuart Abelson and Lisa Loeffler won the events with scores of 58.5 buoys and 33 buoys, respectively.
The trick skiing event also saw Abelson and Loeffler take top honors with scores of 3830 and 880 points. Abelson’s smell of potential victory changed his strategy to a conservative standup run, rather than a potential record setting attempt.

The jump event gave Virginia Tech an opportunity to win an event, and to win the tournament, but despite winning jumping they came up 80 points behind Bates in the final overall tally. Tech’s Randy Hutchinson placed first in jumping with a jump of 104 feet, but Loeffler continued her winning ways with a leap of 99 feet.

An excited Bates team will be traveling to Milledgeville, Georgia on October 10, to represent the East at the Collegiate Nationals. This is the first time in the Team's four year history that Bates will be able to compete at the National level.

TEAM SCORES:

Bates College						1380
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University	1300
Penn State					 	 625
University of Connecticut				 220

INDIVIDUAL EVENT WINNERS:

	Men’s Slalom				Women’s Slalom
Stuart Abelson-Bates	58.5		Lisa Loeffler		33
Dan Sherman-UConn	46		Anne Coequyt		4
Jeff Millet-Bates	44.5		Kathy Brown		3

	Men’s Tricks				Women’s Tricks
Stuart Abelson		3830		Lisa Loeffler		880
Kyle Thompson		820		Kim Burgess		450
Jeff Pryor		740		Anne Coequyt		80

	Men’s Jump				Women’s Jump
Randy Hutchinson	104		Lisa Loeffler		99
Stuart Abelson		96		Kim Burgess		37
Jeff Pryor		88		Anne Coequyt		34

For additional information: Steve Lohr slohr@bealenet.com