Just in case you haven’t had time to get out and enjoy the fabulous fall colors we have had here in Tomahawk, I have posted a short video that will give you a taste of why this is the best time of the year in Tomahawk and the Northwoods.

There were ballerinas on the water and highflying boys sailing through the air last weekend at Kwahamot Bay as Tomahawk played host to the 2011 Division 2 Show Ski National Championships. An estimated 5,000 spectators showed up to cheer on their favorite water skiers with over a dozen teams competing with Iowa, Indiana, Minnesota, Michigan and Wisconsin all being represented.

The stands were full most of the day and early evening with a couple of brief rain delays slowing things up on Saturday afternoon but with a little luck and rescheduling all the events were competed. In the team competition the winners were as follows. The Hartwick Huskys of Delhi, Iowa, won the overall team championship, along with top awards for Towboat Driving and High Individual Club Act with a total of 1,298.4 points. The Chetek Hydroflites “Chetek, Wis.” finished second with 1,272.06 points and the Badwater Ski-Ters “Florence, Wis.” rounded out the top three with 1,261.2 points. Other team scores in order of finish were: Silver Lake “Fenton, Mich.”, 1,247.73; Shermalot “Rome, Wisc.”, 1,211.13; Lauderdale Aqua Skiers “Elkhorn, Wis.”, 1,198.3; Ski Sprites “Eau Claire, Wis.”, 1,196.51; Rochester Ski Club “Rochester, Minn.”, 1,181.87; Lake City Skiers “Warsaw, Ind.”, 1,138.53; Waupaca Chain Skiers, “Waupaca” 1,1111.58; Plum Ski-ters “Sayner, Wis.”, 1,079.83; Chain Skimmers “Conover”, Wis., 999.47; Kwahamot Show Ski Team “Tomahawk”, 929.38, the Kwahamot Water Ski Team’s (Ryan Koth, Scott Koth and Greg Hilgendorf) won team jumping, scoring 48.00 points; and Min-Aqua Bats (Minocqua), rounded out the fourteen teams with 787.52  points.

The Division 2 Show Ski National Championships also has an individual competition element with events in adagio doubles, swivel, multi-jumping and free style jumping. Here are the some of the top finishers. Jillian Langer “Crivitz” swivel, with 13.67 points; Sarah Parbs “Reeseville” and Andrew Weinheimer “Horicon” doubles champions with 11.87 points, and The host Kwahamots’s Ryan Koth took the freestyle jump competition.

After the event was over there were smiling faces on the skiers, fans and the town Tomahawk. It should be noted that the Kwahamots have applied to host the Division 2 Show Ski Nationals again in 2013. See ya then.