Eight athletes won national titles at the 25th Barbara Bolding/Jim Grew Fund Adaptive Water Ski National Championships, Sept. 5-8, in Paducah, Ky. The Adaptive Nationals featured the United States’ top adaptive water ski athletes competing for national titles in slalom, tricks, jumping and overall.
There were three categories – Seated, Standing and Vision Impaired. Event winners were based on a two-round total of overall points compared to respective U.S. national records as of Jan. 1, 2018. Overall winners were based on the overall points from the best of either round as compared to respective U.S. national records as of Jan. 1, 2018.
Athletes earning national titles in the men’s seated division were: Chad Guzman (Gilbert, Ariz.), slalom, and Connor Poggetto (Sacramento, Calif.), tricks, jumping and overall. Craig Timm (Center City, Minn.) swept titles in Standing Men slalom, tricks, jumping and overall. Mike Royal (Magnolia, Texas) won Vision Impaired Men slalom and tricks.
In Seated Women, Sarah Switzer (Madison, Ala.) won slalom, jumping and overall, while Janet Paulson (Acworth, Ga.) won tricks. In Standing Women, Elisha Nelson (Woodland, Calif.) won titles in slalom and tricks. Katie Mawby (Grand Haven, Mich.) won titles in Vision Impaired Women slalom and tricks.
The event also featured a USA vs. the World competition, pitting U.S. adaptive water ski athletes versus adaptive water ski athletes from other countries. The U.S. tallied 10,435 points to the World’s 5,057 points.
The Kentucky Lake Ski Nuts Water Ski Club and USA Adaptive Water Ski & Wake Sports (formerly Water Skiers with Disabilities Association), a sport discipline organization of USA Water Ski & Wake Sports, conducted the Nationals. For complete results from the tournament, visit