LANTANA, FL [May 1, 2007]--Wakeboarding world champion Raimi Merritt blew the competition out of the water and captured the girls' first place title for the second year in a row at the 2007 Air Nautique Wake Games in Orlando, Florida. The tournament, which was held April 26-29 at the Orlando Watersports Complex, was the first of professional wakeboarding's King of Wake series.
On the first day of the girls' competition, Merritt had a clean ride, landing all of her tricks. But during the final heat the next day, she overcame a fall and still managed to finish well ahead of her competitors. "I fell on my heelside backroll, which is one of my easiest tricks, but despite that, the pass still went well, and I ended it by landing a big toe-side 540˚--one of my most difficult tricks," said Merritt.
The Wake Games title is Merritt's second straight win for the season. In March, she claimed the 2007 IWSF Girls' Pan American Championship title. Merritt won every tournament she competed in last year--including the 2006 WWA World Championships--and has her eye set on a repeat performance for this year. She competes next at the prestigious, invitation-only Masters Tournament in Callaway Gardens, Georgia, May 25-27.
Merritt, who began wakeboarding at the age of nine, has dominated the awards podium from the start, winning the very first WWA National Championship she competed at in 2004. She trains with two of the best wakeboarding coaches in the industry--Mike Ferraro and Dean Lavelle--and has been a member on the USA World Championship Wakeboard Team since she was eleven years old. Merritt's goals for 2007 are to win the IWSF World Championships in Qatar in October and rack up enough tricks in her arsenal to turn pro next year.
Merritt is sponsored by Liquid Force Wakeboards, Girls4Sport, MonaVie Nutrition Beverage, R3 Global, and Fly High Wakeboard Gear.
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