Williams Lake was well represented last week at the Canadian National Waterskiing Championships in Calgary.
The father, son duo of Williams Lake’s Parnell and Conley Pinette both skied away from the event as national champions.
Just one week prior, Aug. 3-4, Conley, 13, won all three of his events — slalom, trick and jump — at the Western Canadian Waterskiing Championships in Abbotsford.
At nationals Conley skied in both the Men’s Open division in tricks and in the Boys 3 division in slalom, trick and jump.
Conley qualified to ski in the men’s open trick division, open to all ages of competitors, based on his scores from throughout the season.
There, in trick and as the youngest competitor by far, Conley achieved a bronze medal.
In his regular Boys 3 division Conley skied to a personal best of five buoys at 32 feet off in slalom to win a gold medal, beating 10 other skiers from across Canada who qualified. In trick Conley amassed 5,800 points to win the gold medal, and in jump Conley flew 119 feet to also win gold. For his efforts Conley was also named the overall gold medalist in Boys 3.
Parnell, meanwhile, kept the family’s winning ways intact.
Parnell won a gold medal in jump after sailing 137 feet and won a gold medal in trick with 1,950 points.
In slalom Parnell achieved a three buoys at 32 feet off, coming in fifth out of 14 skiers in the men’s 3 slalom division.
As a result Parnell, too, was awarded the overall gold medal in the men’s 3 division.
Additionally, Conley was named to the Canadian under-17 team for the Can Am Challenge in St. Louis over the September long weekend.
Conley has attended the competition as a junior the last three years, but said he is extremely happy to be chosen for the under-17 team.
