POLK CITY, Fla. – USA Water Ski has selected K.C. Wilson (Winter Springs, Fla.) and Erika Lang (Gilbert, Ariz.) as its Male Athlete of the Month and Female Athlete of the Month, respectively, for June. The Chico State (Chico, Calif.) wakeboard team was selected USA Water Ski’s Team of the Month. Wilson, Lang and the Chico State wakeboard team are now eligible for the United States Olympic Committee’s Athlete of the Month and Team of the Month honors.

Wilson won his fourth consecutive Junior U.S. Open slalom title at the 2012 Junior U.S. Open Water Ski Championships, June 2-3, at the Lake of Dreams in Jerseyville, Ill. A week after winning the Junior Masters’ slalom title, Wilson won the Junior U.S. Open with a score of 2 buoys at 39-1/2 feet off. He earned the top seed in the finals with a score of 3 buoys at 39-1/2 feet off. He was the only one of nine competitors in the division to get beyond 4 at 38 feet off. At the 2012 Isles Record, June 23-24, in Winter Garden, Fla., Wilson recorded top scores of 1 buoy at 41 feet off in both rounds of the Boys 3 (ages 14-17) slalom competition. The scores were just a half-buoy shy of tying the current Boys 3 national slalom record. At the 2012 Space Coast Slalom Challenge on June 30 in Palm Bay, Fla., Wilson set a pending Boys 3 national slalom record of 3 buoys at 41 feet off. If approved by the American Water Ski Association’s Technical Committee, the score will surpass the current record of 1-1/2 buoys at 41 feet off.

Lang scored a pending Girls 3 and Open Women national record of 9,050 points in the preliminary round of the 2012 Junior U.S. Open Water Ski Championships, June 2-3, at the Lake of Dreams in Jerseyville, Ill., and followed it up with a score of 8,290 points in the finals to easily win the Girls’ tricks title for the second consecutive year. In addition to tricks, Lang also won titles in slalom and overall. She scored 3 buoys at 35 feet in slalom and finished with 2,720.1 overall points, which included a 106 foot third-place effort in jumping. Lang also set pending Girls 3 and Open Women national tricks records of 9,150 points and 9,050 points at the Cory Pickos Superstars, June 9-10, in Santa Rosa Beach, Fla. The 2012 Honu Sportz U.S. Junior Water Ski Team Trials, June 30-July 1, Lang recorded top scores of 1-1/4 buoys at 38 feet off in slalom and 8,600 points in tricks in being named to the U.S. Junior Water Ski Team that will compete in the 14th Junior Water Ski World Championships, Feb. 20-24, 2013, in Mulwala, Australia.

California State University, Chico won its second national title in three years at the 2012 Collegiate Wakeboard National Championships, June 1-3, in Guthrie, Okla. Chico State was bolstered by victories from Eric McFadyen (Red Bluff, Calif.) in Men’s A and Diana Fleenor (Arroyo Grande, Calif.) in Women’s A, respectively. Other members of the Chico State team were Rob Way (Chico, Calif.), Jordan Handel (Chico, Calif.) and Morgan Allen (Livermore, Calif.). Way finished fourth in Men’s A, Handel placed tied for ninth in wakeskate and Men’s C; and Allen finished runner-up in Women’s B.

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.