MasterCraft and the Alt Games returned to the sunny beach of Fiesta Island to crown a 2010 College Wakeboarding Champion through a three-day competition that featured teams from across the country.
Matching up against schools like defending champion Florida, Kentucky, Florida Gulf University, Central Washington and more, Chico State University took home the coolest prize in college sports: the Alt Games dude trophy.
Despite having ringers like Raquel Hoffman, Chico State was at a disadvantage from the start Shortly before they boarded up the van to San Diego, one of their key team members pulled out due to a family emergency.
They were facing a Florida team that was a two-time defending champion and had strong individual wakeboarders like Matt Morgan, who finished third in the individual competition, and were not ready to give up their title.
But the team made up of Drew Peterson, Travis Briscoe, Brandon Hassfeld, Bryan Hansen, Jordan Raber and Raquel Hoffman werent fazed. Without their seventh teammate, Peterson, a senior majoring in construction management, stepped in and pulled double duty wakeboarding and wakeskating for his school. The rest of the team just filled in behind.
I just called my parents and had them send my wakeboard down, Peterson said. You just do what you got to do.
Chico State came out strong in the final round, winning four of the first five matchups to take the prize. But with everyone having a great time on the docks, USA Wakeboard and the Alt Games ran the final matchups for a chance to show off.
Weve been tied for third the last two years and were just stoked to take home the gold, Peterson added.
In the individual competition, Kevin Wipplinger, from Florida Gulf Coast University was the surprising winner, beating out shoo-ins like Floridas Matt Morgan. Wipplinger, who brought back his schools wakeboarding team after it was discontinued by the school years before, said he was just hoping the Alt Games win would help his team get a few more members and a lot more funding.
Its definitely something we can take back to the school and say, Look, we really did something, he said. We won at the Alt Games.
Fans can tune in to CBS College Sports Network to see the collegiate wakeboarding action, which will be included as part of the networks comprehensive Alt Games programming. In addition, CBS will air a one-hour Alt Games highlight show on Saturday, June 19 (5:00 p.m. ET). For more information and for a full programming schedule, go on to CBS College Sports Schedule