Pine Mountain, GA (May 22, 2015) – The 56th Masters Water Ski & Wakeboard Tournament® presented by GM Marine Engine Technology officially kicked off today with the 23rd Junior Masters competition behind the Ski Nautique 200 and Super Air Nautique G23 at Callaway Gardens in Pine Mountain, GA just southwest of Atlanta.
The PCM, GM Marine Engine Technology powered Masters Ski Nautique 200 performed flawlessly, pulling thirteen year old Neilly Ross to a new Junior Women’s Tricks course record of 9,060 points in both rounds for her first Masters title. Brooke Baldwin finished second with a score of 7,600 points and Paige Rini took third. In the Junior Men’s Trick final, Ukraine’s Danylo Filchenko placed first with 10,110 points, followed by Patricio Font and Nick Lang.
Brooke Baldwin claimed her first Junior Masters Slalom title with 2@38-off in a final round run off with Geneva Roach placing second and Allie Nicholson in third. The Junior Men’s Slalom final went to Robert Pigozzi of the Dominican Republic running 3.5@38-off to win the title, followed by Taylor Garcia in second and Jakob Bogne in third.
In Junior Women’s Jump, a highly competitive semifinal round saw a jump off for the second and third spots into the final with three competitors landing at the 123ft (37.6m) mark. Aliaksandra Danisheuskaya from Belarus claimed the title jumping 141 feet (43m) followed by Dominique Grondin-Allard and Valentina Gonzalez. Additionally, Taylor Garcia barely edged out Nick Lang in the Junior Men’s Jump final for the win with Garcia jumping 175ft (53.4m) and Lang just behind him at 175ft (53.2m). France’s Leo Anguenot was right on their heels taking third with a 174ft (53.0m) jump.
Competing in all three events and scoring consistently earned Brooke Baldwin her second Junior Masters Women’s Overall title with a score of 2,790 points and junior men skier, Taylor Garcia took home the Junior Masters Men’s Overall title with a score of 2,623.1 points.
The Super Air Nautique G23 launched riders in the Junior Men’s Wakeboarding semifinal, as Cobe France and Robby Houlihan moved on from Heat 1, with Jason Soven and Nic Rapa advancing from Heat 2 to the finals. In the final round Soven had two stand up passes before landing a backside 720 for his wildcard trick to claim the Junior Men’s Wakeboarding title followed by Cobe France and Nic Rapa.
For complete up-to-date scores of the 23rd Junior Masters, please visit masterswaterski.com/standings/
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An invitation to compete in the Masters is universally considered an acknowledgement of achievement for reaching the pinnacle in a given watersports discipline – only the world’s most elite athletes compete at the Masters. To view the 2015 criteria please visit the Masters website. This tournament is sanctioned by IWWF/USA Water Ski and WWA. Watch all of 56th Masters action live on Saturday May 23rd starting at 8:00AM EST, please visit masterswaterski.com.
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