Missouri State University at Tiger Throwdown 2016

A Look Back at Tiger Throwdown 2016

Another tournament is in the books for Team Midwest. This past weekend, University of Missouri hosted the Tiger Throwdown where seven teams competed for the top spot and the tree trunk trophies.

Missouri State University took home 1st place at Tiger Throwdown. Picture from Summer Lawson's Instagram.
Missouri State won Team Overall at Tiger Throwdown. Photo credit: Summer Lawson on Instagram.

Although morning wake-up calls are usually extremely interesting at collegiate ski tournaments, Saturday’s call was even more special. Due to the amount of rain the previous day, skiers woke up only to learn the lake had to go down several inches and the course balls raised before the skiing could officially begin. You would think that college students would take this opportunity to get a couple more hours of sleep, but teams were awake and yelling, and skiers were ready to ski. That didn’t happen until 10:30am.

The water level was the least of everyone’s worries once skiing was underway. In slalom, there were some PB’s, missed exit gates, and a tooth that went through a KU skier’s chin. Trick seemed to go without a hitch (except for this Nebraska tricker who was the prettiest reindeer of the event), and just as the sun was starting to set, everyone’s favorite began–jump. Women hit the big red ramp first; tips went down, skiers went off at odd angels, blood was drawn, yet many women still conquered the ramp.

Michael Newth teaching jump to Allison Thomas (KU).
Michael Newth walks Allison Thomas (KU) through her first time off the jump at the starting dock.

Sunday morning brought men’s jump and a number of scratches. It is always a treat to see the men from Iowa State and KU fly over 100 feet in the air, and Nathanial Shafer from Kansas State managed to ride away from a jump on one ski!

And with that, the second collegiate tournament of the season was over and it was time to head back to the reality of college life. Missouri State University bested out Iowa State for the top spot in the tournament and took home the hardware; Missouri State is captured in the featured picture above and can be found on Instagram. The top five combined team scores were rounded out with University of Missouri, Kansas State University, and Kansas University. It was a great effort by all skiers involved and the memories that were made are endless. The full score book and score books for other collegiate tournaments can be viewed on USA Water Ski.

Next weekend, Iowa State University hosts the Great Plains Conference Championship, where these same teams will meet up with the rest of the conference and compete for a trip to Midwest Regionals.

Margaret Silhasek

Lake-loving Minnesota girl who bleeds Husker Red!