Pine Mountain, GA (May 29, 2012) – Yesterday’s conclusion of the 53rd Masters Water Ski & Wakeboard Tournament® at Callaway Gardens brought four new Masters Champions including Men’s Trick champion Alexandre Poteau, Slalom champion Nate Smith, Jump champion Ryan Dodd and Women’s Wakeboard champion Meagan Ethell plus a new course record in Women’s Trick pulled by the Ski Nautique 200.

In Women’s events, Natallia Berdnikava set a new course record in Women’s Tricks with a score of 9,520 points and claimed the Masters title followed by Iris Cambray and Whitney McClintock. Top seed Regina Jaquess skied a half a buoy more than Whitney McClintock to earn the Women’s Slalom title. Berdnikava claimed her second title of the day in Women’s Jump with a score of 173 feet with Jacinta Carroll and Marion Mathieu rounding out the podium.

In the Men’s disciplines, Alexandre Poteau from France tricked 10,560 points earning his first Masters Trick title. Nate Smith who was seeded second in the finals ran 5@39-off taking the lead and earning his first Masters Slalom title followed by Thomas Degasperi and Aaron Larkin. Defending Masters Champion Freddy Krueger who was last off the dock was no match for Ryan Dodd who jumped 225 feet earning his first Masters Jump title!

During the Wakeskate finals, the wind picked up drastically changing the conditions then the previous day, Grant Roberts had a good run and attempted the 540 which has never been tried in a contest but was unable to ride away from it scoring 65.00. Last off the dock was Defending Wakeskate Champion Reed Hansen making his destiny with a run of 70.00 and preserving his Masters title for the second year in a row.

Women’s wakeboarding finals was top level riding that has ever been seen in competition and Meagan Ethell was the first female to ever land a wake to wake crow mobe as her wild trick earning her first Masters Wakeboard title. During the men’s finals we saw some of the most progressive runs ever in a contest behind the all-new Super Air Nautique G23 and attempts at tricks that have never been tried before. Aaron Rathy set the bar but had two falls and did not allow him to complete as many tricks as defending Masters Champion Harley Clifford and Phil Soven. Clifford knew what he had to do but a fall in his pass put him in second as Soven had two flawless passes that included a whirly 7, amongst other technical tricks and spins earning the coveted Masters title.

For complete up-to-date scores of the 53rd Masters, please visit Masters Standings.

An invitation to compete in the Masters is universally considered an acknowledgement of achievement for reaching the pinnacle in a given watersports discipline – only the world’s most elite athletes compete at the Masters. This tournament is IWWF/USA Water Ski and WWA sanctioned.