Aquanuts Win Indmar D1 Show Ski Nationals

Aquanut Water Shows, Inc. (Twin Lakes, Wis.) won the national team title at the 47th Indmar Marine Engines Division 1 Show Ski National Championships, presented by Visit Central Florida, Aug. 12-14, at Shorewood Park in Loves Park, Ill.

The Aquanuts tallied a grand total 1,725.08 points in winning their fifth national title in the history of the event and first since 2015. The Mad-City Ski Team (Madison, Wis.) placed second with 1,722.3 points and the Rock Aqua Jays (Janesville, Wis.), the defending national team champion, finished third with 1,720.36 points. It was the closest finish among the top-three teams in the history of the event.

The tournament featured 14 teams and more than 1,500 athletes. In competitive show skiing, each club has one hour to present a theatrical performance on water skis. Judges score acts by awarding points based on originality, presentation and execution. Elaborate costumes and staging intermix with music and fast action on the water as an announcer leads the audience through the show.

Wonder Lake’s Brea Imse (Wheeling, Ill.) and the Aquanuts’ Cody Coffey (Medinah, Ill.) won the Willa Cook and Skip Gilkerson awards, respectively. The awards are given to the tournament’s top female performer and top male performers, as voted on by the tournament officials.

In addition to the team competition, athletes competed individually in swivel, swivel pairs, strap doubles, freestyle jumping and team jumping. Brea Imse (Wheeling, Ill.) won the swivel title for the second consecutive year, scoring 18.04 points. Imse also teamed up with Paige Peshina (Malvern, Ohio) to win Swivel Pairs, which made its debut at the Nationals as an official national championships event for the first time after being an exhibition event in 2021. Imse and Peshina scored 15.26 points in winning the national title. Kimberly Stoner (Hartland, Wis.) and Cory Krivitz (Hartland, Wis.) won doubles for the 10th consecutive year, scoring 16.72 points. The Sarasota Ski-A-Rees (Sarasota, Fla.) won team jumping for the second consecutive year, scoring 91.80 points. Derek Buchman (Cameron, Wis.) won freestyle jumping, scoring 828.00 points.