chicost team

If there was ever a place the Collegiate Wake Series should have ended its first year, there was none better then San Diego, California.  Staying at the Hilton Mission Bay Resort, the Empire staff hung out with Chico St, Long Beach St and the University of Oregon in pools hot tubs and at night socializing around fire pits.

Saturday brought beautiful Southern California sun and calm water for all the teams.  Hidden Anchorage Cove was once again host to the collegiate teams. It was a special event for everyone as Randall Harris brought his Axis 22 and some riders even got to ride behind the Quiksilver wrapped edition.  The teams also got to ride in front of the Alliance Wakeboard Mag crew, Jason Mendez from Ronix, and Adam McCall from Axis Wake. No other event of the tour had this kind of presence from the sponsors.

Chico St and Long Beach came loaded with riders in the Open and Advanced classes. The advanced division came down to paper, rock, scissor after being so close among the riders leaving Ramon Sawyer (Chico St) taking first followed by Eric Christensen (LBSU) and Brian Moore (Chico St).  They enjoyed the friendly rivalry against one another and trying new tricks to show each other up.

Raquel Hoffman showed she could take on the open riders, but fell on a Whirly and a Moby Dick dropping her to forth. Travis Biscoe, Brandon Hoffman, and Bryan Hassfield made the sweep for Chico St giving them the team win and seating them 4th nationally.

After an amazing Pacific sunset closed out the series, an award ceremony was held at the San Diego Boat and Ski Club. The private party offered steak dinners, movie premiers and a great time for everyone. During the awards every team was pounding on the tables cheering for all the winners and giving speeches on the mic. It truly was the best season ending event we could have asked for.

Chico St rose to 4th in the nation, followed by Long Beach St in 5th and University of Oregon 16th just sneaking them into the CWS National Championships in Austin Texas.  San Diego St. fought hard but came up a few points short of Oregon and at 17th nationally.

Big thanks to everyone who made this epic season possible for Empire Wake and all the teams who rode with us.
Special Thanks to Axis Wake, Pro Tec Helmets, Freestyle Watches, Urban Rider Winches, BuyWake.com, Ronix, Red Bull, and all the people who helped run the events.

Check out the event photos on www.EmpireWake.com