Holding down the Number 2 spot is Joel Wagner, another Smith Mountain Lake rider who recently started riding for Liquid Force. Joel just finished his final semester at VT with a degree in Accounting and is now working in the Northern Virginia area.
So what makes Joel so good? First--he has a huge bag of technical tricks. The list of handle pass inverts alone that he has landed is incredible. Tootsie Rolls, Roll to Blinds, KGBs, Crow Mobes, Skeezers, Dum Dums, and more. Second--Joel is a switch MONSTER. VT riders in general take lots of pride in being good at switch riding, but nobody in the club can match Joel's switch ability. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that he wakeboards "Regular," but skateboards "Goofy." Joel looks so comfortable switch that sometimes you forget which foot forward he is. His switch scarecrows are sometimes bigger and more laid out than his regular ones. He has a huge bag of switch spins, switch inverts, and even switch raley based tricks and switch Whirlybirds.
Joel has always been a good technical rider, but last year Joel really put in work to step up his spin game. While he has landed a handful of BS 540s and 720s, he has never focused as much on spins as he did last year. His work paid off; his spin game went through the roof as he got all four FS 540s on lock back to back. He also added some style into his repertoire with technical spins like grabbed switch TS FS 360s landing wrapped and a legit Stalefish HS BS 180.
Competitively, Joel has been the anchor for VT's team over the past several years. After a finals appearance at Nationals 2011 in Men's A, Joel won the individual title at Eastern Regionals 2012. Joel went into Nationals 2012 riding better than ever, but unfortunately had a fluke run that took him out of the hunt. Expect Joel to show why he was voted one of the Top 10 collegiate wakeboarders in the country by WakeWorld when he returns for his last year of eligibility at Nationals 2013. Joel is the real deal.
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