2006
Frostbite Figure Eight
Aaron
Schoelzel wins 6th title in a row
|
Aaron Schoelzel - 1st Place |
The
Figure-8 barefoot tournament season officially
kicked off here in Wisconsin on May 6th when te
U.W. Stout collegiate team held their annual figure 8 tournament on Lake
Menomonie. The 8th annual Frostbite Figure 8
had something never seen
before. It was actually warm
outside. With temperatures in the low to
mid 70's, the tournament
season was off to a good start. But warm
weather in early spring is always accompanied by wind. We had a
steady breeze blowing across the lake which resulted
in four to six inch chop across entire course.
It was gonna for a very interesting
day. The step off area was nice and calm but once we made the left hand
turn it was a constant struggle.
There were
the usual figure 8 skiers in attendance: Paul Stokes, Elaine, Shannon,
and Cody Heller, Mike Netzer, and Jon Debelak
one of the best all around skiers in the world came up. Then you had the
newcomers and collegiate skiers. There were a total of 36 paid skiers
although two didn’t show up. Pretty impressive for this time of year to
have that many skiers ready to show their stuff.
Some of
the early rounds that saw big name match-ups such as
Mike Netzer vs. Elaine Heller with Mike
coming out on top. Paul Stokes took out
the always tough Cody Heller after just about ½ of the course being
completed. Paul then had to take on Jon
Debelak and the two of them decided to go for the best trick award
together doing side by side front to backs and back to fronts.
Jon fell coming back around and Paul
just outside the buoy. Very impressive based on
the water conditions. So they re-ran the
run and Paul edged Jon out in the back corner.
Some of
the new comers to the sport that we saw ski impressively were David
Baird from Kansasville, WI. David lost
his very first run and then came back and beat last year's
third place finisher Max Verhagen and then eliminated Elaine Heller from
the tournament before ending up in the top 6. A
great showing for his first ever figure-8
event.
The story
of the day had to be Scuba Steve Jones. Last year,
as in most every other year, Scuba was a two
run and done guy. Not this year!
This year he has been training hard every day. Steve
beat the likes of Cody Heller, Paul Stokes and Shannon Heller in head to
head competition to pull off a third place finish.
The finals
had Mike Netzer skiing against myself (Aaron
Schoelzel). Mike would have to
beat me twice as I had beat him in the finals of the winners bracket.
With the chop going across the straight
away, you couldn’t see or breath for long
periods of time. After making it into
the back turn, I got inside the wake hoping to
use that to my advantage, but my feet were
swept away and Mike skied on. We were
now onto the one and done showdown. I
lost the coin toss which I hadn’t worried about all day sticking with
the drivers side, but after losing on that
side, I hoped for a coin toss win.
That didn’t happen and Mike stuck me
back there again. As we took off all I
could do was hope for the best, and after just starting the back turn I
finally saw Mikes handle slide by in front of me. None
of the runs were long but I was exhausted from not being able to breath.
At 51 years old Mike is one of the
toughest competitors in our sport. The
man doesn’t know the meaning of giving up, quitting, or being tired.
One of the
coolest things the U.W. Stout team does is have a lot of prizes. The
best trick, best crash, and the team award. This year they decided to do
a school yard pick for teams. The captains were Max V., Mike N., Paul
S., and myself. Each captain was allowed to pick 8 other skiers to
compete against the other teams. You receive one point for every win a
person on your team has and the team with the most points wins. Mike
Netzers team which had him and fourth place finisher Shannon Heller as
the big guns pulled off a four point victory over Team Sanger which had
Elaine Heller and myself as the top two. Team Mercruiser and team Get
Stoked finished in third and fourth in a close battle for them spots.
|
Best Crash |
A guy named
KYLE |
The best
crash of the day went to a guy named Kyle from Stout. Who on back to
back runs splatted his body across the water right in front of the crowd
during his step offs. With two falls like that,
I felt bad for his body. Both falls were the completely laid out
non-tucking kind.
|
Best Trick |
Bill
Lindeman - "Two Ski Jumpout" |
The best
trick ended up going to Bill Lindeman who landed a perfect feet to feet
two ski jump out. The water conditions
were so bad, it may have been a good way to
get out of your skis.
|
Youngest & Oldest |
Shannon
Heller (13) & Mike Netzer (51) |
The oldest
skier of the tournament award went to Mike Netzer,
who as I stated before is just a machine. The youngest skier award went
to Shannon Heller who I believe is 13 now.
After the tournament was over most of us went to have some fun and
refreshments at a couple of the guys on the teams homes where they let
us eat and drink for free and also gave us a place to sleep. Greg
Smelser and Matt Kurrin were the hosts and a big thank you goes out to
you guys. And I never knew bocci ball was such a competitive sport. But
when you play at near dark and in the woods, it becomes a much tougher
game.
|
AFTER TOURNAMENT PARTY |
 |
All in all,
this was another well-run tournament by a bunch of college kids who were
supposed to be studying for finals the following days,
but instead, decided that organizing their
tournament and partying like rock stars sounded like more fun. They are
always a bunch of fun and do it to pay for gas for their collegiate ski
team.
I would like to thank the UW-Stout ski team for holding a fun event. And I'd like to thank my sponsors:
Barefoocentral.com, US Gear, Sanger Boats, Eagle Wetsuits, and Play it Again Sports on Gammon Road in
Madison,WI.
Respectfully Submitted,
Aaron Schoelzel
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