2016 USA-WSF Scholarship Winners Announced

Posted 07/15/2016

The USA Water Ski Foundation is pleased to announce the 2016 USA-WSF Scholarship recipients!  We are proud to honor these remarkable young athletes and thank everyone who applied for a scholarship and congratulate those of you who were selected this year.

Scholarships for all sports discipline water skiers are available through the USA Water Ski Foundation. The USA-WSF Scholarship and Financial Aid Committee was appointed in 1982. The first scholarship program began in1983 and offered scholarships to qualified members of the USA Water Ski.

The 2016 USA Water Ski Foundation Scholarship recipients are as follows:

   Ellie Horton

Ellie Horton, a rising senior at Florida Southern College, is the 2016 recipient of the $5,000 2016 Barbara Bolding/Jim Grew Scholarship. Ellie’s talent and extraordinary work ethic has served her well as an advertising and public relations major. Her current GPA is 3.9. She also serves on the leadership board for FSC’s Fellowship of Christian Athletes and is an editor for The Southern, the Florida Southern newspaper. Ellie is a 3 event water skier and member of the United States Under 21 team that participated the 2014 Pan Americans in Bogota, Columbia, winning the Trick and overall title. She also competed in the 2014 Collegiate All-Stars winning gold in the Jump event. In 2016, she won W1 Jump and overall at the U.S. Nationals and placed second in Tricks. Last year Ellie placed 3rd in Jump at the 2015 Malibu Open and 5th in Tricks in DI at the 2015 Collegiate Nationals.  Ellie is a senior judge with the AWSA-AAC and was named team captain of the FSC Water Ski Team. She also volunteers with water ski grass roots and junior development camps.

   Erika Lang

Erika Lang, a rising junior at Rollins College, is the 2016 recipient of the George Blair Ambassador Scholarship in the amount of $2,200. An international business student, Lang has always loved the “problem solving” associated with the study of math and science and has maintained a remarkable 4.3 GPA at Rollins College. Her career objective is to one day become an engineer.  As a 3 event water skier, Erika has broken world records twice and won several major competition titles that include the Masters Water Ski & Wakeboard Championships, Goode Water Ski National Championships, the Collegiate Water Ski Nationals, and the U.S. Open Water Ski Championships.   Erika placed 4th in her first ever pro women’s wakeboard contest at the 2015 Moomba Masters and she holds the World Record for Pro Women’s Trick Skiing and was the 2015 Master’s Trick Champion and 2015 Under 21 Trick Champion.  She also placed 2nd in Pro Women’s Trick at both the 2015 U.S. Open in Pro Women’s Trick and 2015 Collegiate National Champion.

   Kailey Koehler

Kailey Koehler is the recipient as the 2016 Jean Downes Scholarship in the amount of $1,500. Kailey is a rising sophomore at the Concordia University Wisconsin and has a current GPA of 3.8 majoring in both special education and elementary education. As a freshman, she received a CUW Outstanding Academic Achievement award for both semesters and was a member of her university track and field team. As a show and barefoot water skier, she was selected to the 2016 USA Waterski Show Team. In 2015, she won the Jennifer Dibble Most Valuable Female Skier Award. In 2014, she was a member of the USA Show Ski Team that won the World Championships. Kailey was also named Most Valuable Female Performer of that tournament. Kailey is involved with community service and has most recently served as a volunteer for the Adaptive Aquatics organization where she has taught children and adult quadriplegics learn how to ski.

   Dylan Michael Brittain

Dylan Brittain, an incoming senior at the University of Kentucky, is the recipient of the 2016 Jean Downes Scholarship in the amount of $1,500. While attending KU, Dylan has successfully balanced his water skiing success with consistent academic achievement. He currently holds a 3.6 GPA and serves on the board of several university sports clubs. Dylan has hosted several collegiate teams and helped coach at junior water ski development camps in both Kansas and Missouri. Dylan has career goals of becoming a medical doctor/radiologist. As a 3 event water skier, he is a 4-time member of the Midwest Junior Elite Team and was selected as a 2-time Midwest Male Most Valuable Player. Dylan also served as the 3-time captain of the Midwest Collegiate All Star Men’s Team.

   Julianna Myrick

Julianna Myrick, an incoming freshman at the University of Alabama, is the recipient of the 2016 Southern Region/Elmer Stailing Scholarship in the amount of $2,000. Julianna will be majoring in chemical engineering and then hopes to attend medical school to study anesthesiology. She was an honor roll student in all 4 years of high school, Princeton High School’s (Texas) senior class president, and vice president of their National Honor Society. Julianna was also awarded the school’s Super Star Student Athlete Award for 4 different sports. As a 3 event water skier, Julianna has competed in numerous regional and national tournaments and earned her assistant judge/scorer credentials for slalom and trick skiing. In 2015, she served as the head coach for the SCR Junior Development Clinic.

   Karli Pickney

Karli Pickney is an incoming sophomore at the University of South Florida. Karli is the 2016 recipient of the Tim Olson Scholarship in the amount of $1,500. Her cumulative GPA is 3.34 in her highly competitive major area of study of biomedical Sciences. Karli hopes to someday become an orthopedic surgeon. Since 2014, she has been a professional water skier at Legoland. In 2015, Karli skied with the Tampa Bay Water Ski Show Team. More recently, she was selected as a member of the 2016 Team USA at the 2016 Worlds Tournament.

About USA Water Ski Foundation Scholarships:

An applicant must be an incoming college or university freshman, sophomore, junior or senior as well as a U.S. Citizen, studying full-time at a two or four-year school. General guidelines for consideration include the number of years an applicant has been a member of USA Water Ski, academic achievement level, two letters of reference, need, work record, school and community activities and a 500-word essay. Also considered are the individual’s contributions to the sport as a skier, rider, barefooter etc., as a worker at water ski tournaments, (judge, driver, committee work, etc.) Students need not be collegiate water ski competitors.The annual USA Water Ski Foundation Scholarship application generally opens September 1st with a deadline of March 15th.