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TORONTO, July 21, 2015 - U.S. Pan American Water Ski Team members Regina Jaquess (Santa Rosa Beach, Fla.), Erika Lang (Gilbert, Ariz.), Adam Pickos (Santa Rosa Beach, Fla.) and Daniel Powers (Orlando, Fla.) each advanced to the finals in respective events on Tuesday as preliminary-round action in water skiing (jumping) and wakeboarding continued at the XVII Pan American Games at Ontario Place West Channel. Jaquess advanced in women's jumping and overall; Lang advanced in women's overall; Pickos advanced in men's overall; and Powers advanced in wakeboarding.
Jaquess qualified for the finals of women's jumping after posting a distance of 164 feet, which was the longest in the division and earned her the top seed for Thursday's finals. " there was a pretty strong headwind and it quite gusty once you got in the air said jaquess who landed on her second attempt she jumped feet first decided to pass available third attempt. happy about where i ended up with feel good heading into finals as top seed knowing what will need do bring home gold.>Jaquess, competing in her fourth Pan American Games, has qualified for the finals in slalom, tricks, jumping and overall. She has won 10 career medals at the Pan American Games, including five gold medals. "Overall, I am pretty happy with where I stand heading into the overall finals on Wednesday and the other finals on Thursday," Jaquess said. "Being a part of the Pan American Games is a great honor so I just want to go out and do my best and have fun with it."
Lang jumped 105 feet to finish eighth in women's jumping, but she advanced to the overall finals. Only the top-six placements advanced to the finals of women's jumping and overall. "I did not have a good jump set," Lang said. "I should have jumped better. The wind was a little tricky, but I'm capable of jumping better than that."
Powers advanced to the finals of wakeboarding after scoring 74.88 points in Heat 1 and 72.88 points in Heat 2. He will be the No. 2 seed behind Canada's Rusty Malinoski (79.02 points) for Wednesday's finals. "Staying confident in the finals will be key," said Powers, who executed several impressive tricks in his two runs, including a toeside 900. "The water is rough and it's windy, so you need to have the confidence that you are going to be able to get that pop off the wake you need and that you're going to have enough time to do your trick. I'll just need to go for it and hope it works out. That's the mindset I am going to have. Maybe it will work out or maybe it won't, but I'm going to have fun trying."
Pickos did not compete in men's jumping on Tuesday, but he tallied enough overall points from Monday's preliminary rounds in slalom and tricks to earn one of six available spots for the men's overall finals on Wednesday.
Lori Krueger-Covington (Martindale, Texas) and Jim Powers (Orlando, Fla.) are the coaches for water skiing and wakeboarding, respectively. Jim Grew (Winter Haven, Fla.) is the team leader and Dr. Brad Harman (Alvarado, Texas) is the team physician.
More than 7,000 athletes from across the Americas and Caribbean are putting their years of intense training, perseverance and sacrifice to the test in world-class competition in 36 sports at the Pan American Games. The Pan American Games is the world's third largest international multi-sport Games; the Olympic Summer Games and the Asian Games only surpass it in size and scope. The first Pan American Games was held in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1951. It is held every four years for the athletes of the 41 PASO member nations, in the year preceding the Olympic Summer Games.
Water Ski Schedule (Subject to Change)
Wednesday, July 22
10 a.m. Men's and Women's Overall Finals
Men's Wakeboarding Finals (Top Eight From Semifinals)
Thursday, July 23
10 a.m. Women's Slalom Finals (Top Six From Preliminaries)
Men's Slalom Finals (Top Eight From Preliminaries)
Women's Tricks Finals (Top Six From Preliminaries)
Men's Tricks Finals (Top Eight From Preliminaries)
Women's Jumping Finals (Top Six From Preliminaries)
Men's Jumping Finals (Top Eight From Preliminaries)
About USA Water Ski
USA Water Ski was formed in 1939 as a non-profit organization promoting water skiing in the United States. USA Water Ski is affiliated with the International Waterski & Wakeboard Federation (world governing body) and is recognized by the United States Olympic Committee and Pan-American Sports Organization as the national governing body of organized water skiing and wakeboarding in the United States. This press release, as well as other information, is available at www.USAWATERSKI.org.