Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Hoover Earns Title

Zach Hoover, a sixth grader at Emmet School, earned the title of 1998 Arkansas State Junior Boys Wakeboard Champion at the Arkansas Novice League Wakeboard Finals held in Little Rock on September 12 and 13.

On Saturday, the riders had to make a qualifying run in which the top eight in each division was chosen to return on Sunday. Hoover was one of these.

After making his final run about 8:30 Sunday morning, he was in for a long day of waiting. The waiting paid off when it was announced that he had won his division.

Since this was the finals, the competition was free-style. This means that the participants were able to do whatever they wanted.

The judges based their decision on the number of tricks done, the difficulty of the tricks and the style of the participant.

Hoover owes his thanks to his Uncle Ronnie Thompson of Gurdon, who also competes, for teaching and training him for the past couple of years and also for taking him to the competitions this summer.

Hoover is the 11-year-old son of Tim and Wendy Hoover of Emmet and the grandson of Clyde Gardner of Milo, Martha Wilber of Crossett and Drury Hoover of Hope.