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Krueger, Truelove Selected USA Water Ski's September Athletes of the Month
By Scott Atkinson // USA Water Ski // October 3, 2007
POLK CITY, Fla. -- USA Water Ski has selected Freddy Krueger (Winter Garden, Fla.) and Karen Truelove (Winter Garden, Fla.) as its Male and Female Athletes of the Month for September. The U.S. Elite Water Ski Team was selected as Team of the Month. Krueger, Truelove and the U.S. Elite Water Ski Team are now eligible for the United States Olympic Committee’s Athletes and Team of the Month honors.
Krueger leaped 238 feet – just 5 feet short of his current world record – to win the gold medal in men’s jumping at the 2007 Water Ski World Championships in Linz, Austria, on Sept. 2. He also won the men’s jumping event at the 2007 IWSF Water Ski World Cup in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland, Sept. 8-9, and he finished third at the 20th U.S. Open Water Ski Championships in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., on Sept.15.
Truelove won the women’s slalom title at the 20th U.S. Open Water Ski Championships. She scored 3 buoys at 38 feet off, clinching her third career U.S. Open women’s slalom title. Truelove also placed second at the 2007 IWSF Water Ski World Cup, and she earned the silver medal in women’s slalom at the 2007 Water Ski World Championships.
The U.S. Elite Water Ski Team won its fourth consecutive world team title at the 2007 Water Ski World Championships. The team finished with 8,087.30 points in winning the world team gold medal. The U.S. has now won 25 of the 30 world team championships since the first Water Ski World Championships in 1949.
Members of the U.S. Elite Water Ski Team were: Rhoni Barton-Bischoff (Orlando, Fla.), April Coble-Eller (Lillington, N.C.), Regina Jaquess (Suwanee, Ga.), Mandy Nightingale (Sapulpa, Okla.),Cory Pickos (Santa Rosa Beach, Fla.) and Jimmy Siemers (Round Rock, Texas). Mike Meek (Albany, Ohio) was the coach of the U.S. Team and Frank Harrison (Rancho Mirage, Calif.) was the team leader.
Nightingale earned the bronze medal in women’s tricks with 8,150 points. Barton-Bischoff placed fifth with 7,830 points. In men's tricks, Pickos finished in seventh with 10,080 points and Siemers came in 10th with 8,480 points. Siemers also placed sixth in men’s jumping with a 214-foot jump. In women's jumping, Jaquess (163 feet) and Barton-Bischoff (149 feet) placed eighth and 12th, respectively. In
women’s slalom, Jaquess and Coble-Eller placed fourth and fifth, respectively.
USA Water Ski was formed in 1939 as a non-profit organization promoting water skiing in the United States. USA Water Ski is affiliated with the International Water Ski Federation (world governing body) and is recognized by the United States Olympic Committee and Pan-American Sports Organization as the national governing body of organized water skiing in the United States. With more than 30,000 members, USA Water Ski is the largest water ski federation in the world.
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