2025 Lake 38 Recap

Skiers took to the water in the S Lines Lake 38 Pro-am in Gadsden County to kick off the slalom portion of the Waterski Pro Tour. The event took place on a lake meticulously designed for the absolute best conditions, which is shown by the numerous records set there over the years. There were certainly some skiers who came there with a record in mind. 

The women’s field consisted of many capable competitors but one quickly set herself above the rest. Regina Jaquess annihilated 39 in both preliminary rounds to secure top spot in finals and show the rest of the competitors that she wasn’t here to play around. As finals rolled around, however, the score to beat was set very high by fellow athlete Allie Nicholson. Allie carried her momentum from winning Masters the previous weekend, and converted it into a score of 4 at 39. Regina may still have had the upper hand, being the last skier off the dock, but it would be no small task to dethrone Allie’s score. Regina took to the water with her bright yellow defending champion bib and determination in her eyes. After some easy warm-up passes, Regina managed to narrowly force her ski around 5 at 39 to skier another consecutive Lake 38 title. 

That’s far from all the excitement with the women skiers, however. We had 4 more American competitors ranging from seasoned veterans to ambitious underdogs. On the veteran side there was Karen Truelove. Karen has so much experience that she literally ran her passes with her eyes closed the previous day when a sudden downpour interrupted her practice set. Unfortunately, Karen wasn’t able to translate her experience into a score worthy of finals this time around. Kennedy Hansen, on the other hand, is much newer to the professional slalom world. As an impressive overall skier, Kennedy has accumulated many achievements in the junior and collegiate ski environment. This weekend she asserted herself as an individual event threat, as well, when she made finals. Samantha Stadlbaur joined Kennedy in the finals to round out the top 8. The final skier was Annemarie Wroblewski who came up just short of finals and lost her spot to Samantha in round 2. All of this action brings the final placements to:

1st - Regina Jaquess (USA) with 5 at 39 (10.75m)

2nd - Allie Nicholson with (USA) 4 at 39 (10.75m)

3rd - Jaimee Bull (CAN) with 3.5 at 39 (10.75m)

4th - Vennesa Vieke (AUS) with 2.5 at 39 (10.75m)

5th - Kennedy Hansen (USA) with 2 at 39 (10.75m)

6th - Whitney Rini (CAN) with 0.5 at 39 (10.75m)

7th - Daniela Kretschmer (CHI) with 5 at 38 (11.25m)

8th - Samantha Stadlbuaur (USA) with 1.5 at 38 (11.25m)

—------------------ Finals Cut —------------------

9th - Annemarie Wroblewski (USA) with 4.5 at 38 (11.25m)

10th - Karen Truelove (USA) with 3 at 38 (11.25m)

11th - Giannina Mechler with (GER) 2 at 38 (11.25m)

12th - Grant Taryn (CAN) with 1.5 at 38 (11.25m)

The men brought no lack of excitement either. As the grand finale, the title was decided in a three way runoff which included USA skier Dane Mechler. All three skiers put up a massive score of 2 at 41 in finals with all three coming up just inside of 3. Dane was the first to ski again and backed up his original score with a second score of 2 at 41. Sadly, this wasn’t enough as both Rob Hazelwood (GBR) and Cole McCormick (CAN) slipped just outside of 3 ball to initiate a second run off. For the third time in finals these two skiers are taking on the 39 off pass. In the end, Rob came away with the win and defended his title from last year. A huge congratulations to those three athletes and a big thank you for the entertainment. Speaking of entertainment, there's one skier we can’t help but mention. Infamous for his incredible save at last year's edition of the Lake 38 Pro-am, Adam Caldwell never leaves room for boredom. There's two things Adam does phenomenally: big scores and big crashes. He brought out both this weekend, scoring 1.5 at 41 and a long swim. 

While a majority of the crowd's excitement came from the overly eventful finals, a couple athletes were exploding from personal excitement. Carter Eaton came out swinging in round 1 and ran 39 for only his second ever time in a record tournament. His score of 1 at 41 put him in a shootout with Adam Sedlmajer (CZE) for the last spot in finals. Unfortunately for Carter, he wasn’t able to secure the spot and just narrowly missed out on his first ever pro finals. That certainly won’t be the last we see of Carter, however. Another up and coming skier made their pro debut this weekend. Landon Stisher joined the ranks as an elite competitor when he kicked off the men's pro event. A huge congratulations to Landon and make sure to look out for his name climbing up the placement list in the future. Speaking of placements, here are the final results for the men: 

1st - Rob Hazlewood (GBR) with 2 at 41 (10.25m)

2nd - Cole McCormick (CAN) with 2 at 41 (10.25m)

3rd - Dane Mechler (USA) with 2 at 41 (10.25m)

4th - Freddie Winter (GBR) with 1.5 at 41 (10.25m)

5th - Adam Caldwell (USA) with 1.5 at 41 (10.25m)

6th - Daniel Odvarko (CZE) with 1 at 41 (10.25m)

7th - Adam Sedlmajer (CZE) with 3 at 39 (10.75m)

8th - Tim Tornquist (SWE) with 2.5 at 39 (10.75m)

—------------------ Finals Cut —------------------

9th - Carter Eaton (USA) with 1 at 41 (10.25m)

10th - Florian Parth (ITA) with 4.5 at 39 (10.75m)

11th - Jaeden Eade (USA) with 3.5 at 39 (10.75m)

12th - Jaramillo Frederico (COL) with 3 at 39 (10.75m)

13th - Bradley Gibbons (CAN) with 3 at 39 (10.75m)

14th - Benjamin Stadlbaur (SUI) with 3 at 39 (10.75m)

15th - Martin Barltalsky (SVK) with 3 at 39 (10.75m)

16th - Nicholas Adams (AUS) with 2.5 at 39 (10.75m)

17th - Alexander Gschiel (AUT) with 4.5 at 38 (11.25m)

18th - Jack Silver with (NZL) 4.5 at 38 (11.25m)

19th - Landon Stisher (USA) with 2.5 at 38 (11.25m)

All in all, it was an amazing event with some amazing competition. A massive thank you to S-Lines, Gadsden County, Nautique and all the other sponsors that made this event possible. A big thank you to Keith Albritton and all the officials for keeping things moving and, last but not least, thank you to Kelvin Kelm for bringing all the action to you live for free. 

Next weekend the Waterski Pro Tour is doubling up. There will be LA Night Jam in Zachary, Louisiana, as well as the Monaco Waterski Cup just outside of Nice, France. The Monaco Waterski Cup will be available to watch courtesy of The Waterski Broadcasting Company but, unfortunately, LA Night Jam will not include a livestream this year. However, stay tuned to our Instagram page for updates throughout the event.