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USA Water Ski Athletes Of The Year
By Marissa Foglia // USA Water Ski // December 13, 2007
POLK CITY, Fla. -- Freddy Krueger (Winter Garden, Fla.), who won his second career men’s world jumping title, and Mandy Nightingale (Sapulpa, Okla.), who competed on two U.S. water ski teams and collected four individual medals in the process, have been selected as USA Water Ski’s 2007 Male and Female Athletes of the Year, respectively. The U.S. Elite Water Ski Team and the Mad City Ski Team (Madison, Wis.) share the honors of USA Water Ski’s 2007 Team of the Year. USA Water Ski’s Awards Committee selected the athletes and teams of the year. The athletes and teams will now be considered for the United States Olympic Committee’s SportsMan, SportsWoman and Sports Team of the Year awards, which will be announced in January.
“Freddy Krueger and Mandy Nightingale exceeded expectations once again in 2007,” said Steve Locke, USA Water Ski’s executive director. “Their accomplishments along with those of the U.S. Elite and Mad City ski teams are both exceptional and impressive. We applaud their hard work and are honored to have them representing USA Water Ski.”
Krueger, 32, has now earned USA Water Ski’s Male Athlete of the Year award seven times. In 2007, Krueger won men’s jumping titles at the Moomba Masters, Masters (U.S.), Performance Chevrolet and Carolina Chrysler Pro Jump, Malibu Open, Water Ski World Championships and the IWSF Water Ski World Cup event in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland. It was the second consecutive year that Krueger won the World Cup series title.
Nightingale, 27, won women’s tricks titles at the Australian Open and U.S. Open, and won the IWSF Water Ski World Cup series title after sweeping victories at the events in Dubna, Russia, and Enniskillen. At the 2007 Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Nightingale earned the silver medal in women’s tricks and the bronze medal in slalom and jumping. At the Water Ski World Championships in Linz, Austria, Nightingale was the lone U.S. team member to win an individual medal, earning the bronze medal in women’s tricks.
The U.S. Elite Water Ski Team won its fourth consecutive world team title at the 2007 Water Ski World Championships. The United States has now won 25 of the 30 world team championships. Besides Nightingale, 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.), Cory Pickos (Santa Rosa Beach, Fla.) and Jimmy Siemers (Round Rock, Texas). Frank Harrison (Rancho Mirage, Calf.) and Mike Meek (Albany, Ohio) served as team leader and coach, respectively.
The nearly 60-member Mad City Ski Team won its third national title in the past four years at the 33rd Malibu Division 1 Show Ski National Championships. They earned top awards for ballet line, freestyle jumping, swivel skiing, showmanship, overall show, dock and equipment crew, pick-up boat crew, towboat driving and sound crew. Earlier in the summer, Mad City won the Wisconsin State Show Ski Championships for the third time in four years.
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