Taylor Beaver of Roanoke Rapids won the outlaw division championship in the Canadian Wake Surf Nationals at Lake Calabogie in the province of Ontario over the weekend.

“She was up against the Canadian champion and increased her score each and every day,” said Jay Baker, one of Beaver's instructors at WakeSurf NC on Lake Gaston. “That girl beat her in Lake Anna last month. Taylor got that much better in the last month from being an OK rider to a star in that division.”

She performed nearly flawlessly, Baker said. “On her final run she landed every trick she knew.”

(There will be a local wake boarding and wake surfing event this weekend at the Adam Fields Wakeboarding School on Lizard Creek. More information can be found on his website.)

Beaver, 15, will go to the U.S. Nationals in Georgia at the end of the August. Her first-place win in Canada gives her an invitation to the World Wake Surfing Championship in Las Vegas at the end of September.

Beaver competes in the semi-pro Outlaw Division after moving up from amateur ranks over the last year.

She is sponsored by Ultimate Boat Lifts, Overby Marine and Wake Surf NC.

Baker, far right, on the podium.

The good fortune for WakeSurf NC didn't end with Beaver, as Baker finished third in the men's Masters Division, the second contest in three weeks where he has gone to the podium after finishing second in Georgia. “It was a pleasant surprise.”

Baker will be competing in the U.S. Nationals at the end of August.