Where:  Menomonie, Wisconsin

2005 Frostbite Figure Eight
Aaron Schoelzel wins 5th title in a row

The 2005 figure eight season has finally arrived. The first tournament of the year was held this weekend at the UW-Stout campus. 

The tournament is hosted by the Stout Ski Team as a fundraiser to help them make it to their collegiate tournaments. Most of us arrived up there Friday night for the pre-tournament party, and the usual trash talking and catching up on what happened during the off season was discussed. We met at a tavern called the Waterfront and then made our way to the downtown area. A good time was had by all and when we decided that it was time for bed several of us headed to tournament director Julie Wildenbergs apartment for the night. Waking up the next morning wasn't as fun let me tell you that.

After shaking out the cobwebs and looking outside we once again weren't surprised at the weather. The morning started out looking very nice but the winds picked up and the sun went away just what we expect here, overcast and windy. We arrived at the site at 9:00 and found that we obviously weren't the only ones not liking ourselves for what had happened the night before, most everyone was late. As we waited for everyone to arrive you could see the water conditions changing for the worse, the wind shifted and the whole lake had 5-8 inch chop everywhere and the step off area was looking pretty nasty. 

Finally everyone was there and we hit the water. The tournament brackets weren't looking very friendly to anyone. With Paul Stokes, Chris Van Zeeland, Bob Mahnke, Elaine Heller, Mike Netzer, and a whole slew of young guys there you didn't seem to have anywhere in the bracket to have an easy go of it. Once we hit the water we quickly realized that this event could be decided by extremely short runs. Stepping off in the chop proved to be very difficult for a lot of people especially Joe Bell who won the best fall title for his dismount which looked like an air raley to a one and a half flip crash. If I only had a video camera with me this was one to see. There were some very interesting pairings early on in the tournament with Chris VZ meeting myself in the third round, Bob M and Mike N meeting in the second round. Then we had a bit of a shocker. Elaine the machine Heller was beaten by an unknown. Max Verhagen a 15-1/2 year old actually beat her. Max turned out to be a big story in this tournament. In the fourth round of winners bracket Max put me to the first real test of the tournament by running nearly a full eight. 

The consolation bracket began to fill up with some excellent skiers. The highlight of this bracket being the run between Bob M. and Chris VZ that lasted nearly an eight and a half before Chris fell. Another slight shocker came in this bracket also when Elaine H. came back and beat Mike N. Bob M. was knocked out of the tournament by Max in the semi finals of the bracket with a long run in the chop that had come back after the wind had died for a short time. This left Max with the task of beating the loser of the run between Paul S. and myself.

In the winners bracket final Paul and I ran the longest run of the event going just over and eight and a half before Paul fell on the cross rollers. Now Paul had to go meet Max for the chance to get back to the finals. After a nice long run Max finally ran out of gas and Paul had reached the finals. The final run between Paul and myself went just over an eight before Paul couldn't clear one last wave. 

Once again they had the team contest where they randomly split everyone up and placed them on teams headed by last years top 3 finishers. You received one point for every win a person on the team had and zero for a loss. The results for that were:

1. Team Sanger
2. Team Red Bull
3. Team Mercruiser

The Stout team paid out through 6th place this year which was new and welcomed by everyone but Jason Stanek who finished 7th. The top ten finishers were:

10. Ryan Dewey
9. Mike Netzer
8. Chris Van Zeeland
7. Jason Stanek
6. Andy Fjoser
5. Elaine Heller
4. Bob Mahnke
3. Max Verhagen
2. Paul Stokes
1. Aaron Schoelzel

I personally was very impressed with Max Verhagen at this tournament. It was his first ever and he came out and skied very well so congratulations Max I look forward to seeing you at more of these events. 

FINAL RESULTS

Left - 2nd Place - Paul Stokes Middle - 1st Place - Aaron Schoelzel Right - 3rd Place - Max Verhagen

I would like to thank the UW-Stout ski team for holding a fun event. And I'd like to thank my sponsors: Barefoocentral.com, US Gear, Sanger Boats, Eagle Wetsuits, and Play it Again Sports on Gammon Road in Madison,WI. I'd also like to say thanks to Julie for letting us stay at her palace.

Respectfully Submitted,
Aaron Schoelzel