Shawano will be able to celebrate a State Championship in Water skiing. For the first time since 2010, the Shawano Ski Sharks brought home a State Championship in Wisconsin Rapids in their Division. This is the third State Championship for the Ski Sharks. The other title was in 1993.
“This is a long time in the waiting” said Dave Passehl of the Shawano Ski Sharks. “We have been rebuilding over last many years. Just the fact that we were so small and we had to rebuild and develop the talent, it is awesome.” Passehl said they put together a pretty solid show, and performed it well.
“We knew we had a great show, but you never know how the points shake out. When we heard the second place team called, we knew we had the victory” Passehl said. “We were putting big stuff on the water as we are finally large for our division. “Our execution was pretty strong, we had just a few falls and a rather large crash, but other than that it was a solid show and the scores showed that.”
Since the groups last State Championship, the Ski Sharks have been improving after starting over with a rather young group.
“Our 2010 crew was much more seasoned, but this year it happened and we could not be anymore happy.”
Passehl said much of the success this year came from a change in approach for State.
“The last few years, we have been putting pressure on ourselves to perform our best at State, but this year, we decided that we owe it to the fans locally to do the best show possible while at home and take that show to state” Passehl said. “It turned out, that was right decision.”
With the season winding down, Passehl said they are excited to return home as State Champions, but they are also ready to go back to work.
“There is a lot of motivation and personal goals that have not been met by the younger ones. We are not done by any stretch of the imagination this year. We pick it back up on Monday.”
The Shawano Ski Sharks also brought home individual awards for Highest Scoring Boat Driving, Highest scoring Dock and Equipment crew, Highest Scoring Barefoot Act, Most Original Act, Best Comedy Act and Best Jump Act.
Cody Siolka won the 2017 freestyle jump state championship. Brad Kueschel and his partner Kylie placed fourth in the individual doubles competition. Both acts qualified for Nationals.