University of Louisiana at Monroe 3-Peats to 29th National Championship at the Connelly Skis 40th NCWSA Nationals

The Connelly Skis 40th NCWSA Nationals was hosted in San Marcos, Texas October 11-13th. The tournament is split into two divisions, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo claimed the Division 2 title. Division 1 had the twelve of the most elite teams from across the nation competing for the NCWSA national championship. The field included University of Alabama, Florida Southern College, Rollins College, and Clemson University from the Eastern Region; The Ohio State University and University of Wisconsin – La Crosse from the Midwestern Region; University of Louisiana at Monroe, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Texas A&M University from the South Central Region; and lastly San Diego State University, Arizona State University, and Western Washington University from the Western Region.

Thursday

Thursday kicked off the competition with women’s slalom. The top three women all got into 39.5′ off, but University of Louisiana at Lafayette’s Jaimee Bull skied away with the victory with a score of 2.5 buoys at 39.5′ off. Jaimee was followed closely by Florida Southern College’s Allie Nicholson with a score of 2 buoys and Siani Oliver rounded out the top three with a score of 1.5 buoys at 39.5′ off. The men were next on the water, but the sunset rule prevented the completion of the event and the fifth round would ski on Friday afternoon to conclude the event.

Friday

Friday started bright and early with Men’s trick. We saw no shortage of spins, flips, and ski lines. University of Louisiana at Lafayette’s Guillaume Tetreault tricked 5,970 points, which was enough to beat Florida Southern College’s Tanguy Dailand by 60 points to claim first!

The tournament proceeded with fifth round men’s slalom. The top three men all got into 39.5′ off and Alabama freshman Sean Hunter walked away with the title with a score of 3 buoys at 39.5′ off. ULM teammates Taylor Garcia and Alex King tied for second with a score of 1.5 buoys at 39.5′ off.

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Next, it was time for the women to fly! Between Division 1 and Division 2 at Nationals, every day is a crowd pleasing #JumpDay! University of Louisiana at Monroe’s Hanna Straltsova soared into first with a 153-foot jump successfully defending her 2017 title. Hanna was trailed closely by her teammate Dominique Grondin Allard who stomped one at 145 feet, and University of Alabama’s Mariah Fields took the bronze with a leap of 141 feet.

Saturday

Saturday wrapped up the tournament with women’s trick and men’s jump. It was a rainy start to the day, and unfortunately we experienced a few rain delays. Despite the weird weather, Anna Gay (University of Alabama) destroyed the competition and flipped her way into first with 5,570 points, 2,000 points ahead of her nearest competitor. Florida Southern College took home second and third in the women’s trick event with Valentina Gonzalez tricking 3,560 points and Paige Rini tricking her way to a score of 3,260 points. By the time women’s tricks finished up and we were ready for the Division 1 men to throw themselves at big red, the wind had picked up significantly. With a horrible tailwind, a captains meeting was held and after a team vote the officials moved to the alternate ramp to make it a stiff headwind. Due to the crazy wind, we saw no shortage of huge crashes.

Shout out to my kid brother, Evan Marcus from University of Wisconsin – La Crosse for taking home the 2018 NCWSA Nationals Classic Crash Award and making our mom cry!

For the most part, after a few fourth and fifth round crashes the remainder of the jump event sailed along smoothly as we saw University of Louisiana at Monroe’s Taylor Garcia (cover photo) fly into first with a massive 186-foot jump. Closely behind were University of Louisiana at Lafayette’s Conley Pinette with 181 feet and University of Alabama’s Quinn Haines rounding out the top three with 180 feet.

3-Event Overall

With all three events in the books for both men and women, Taylor Garcia of University of Louisiana at Monroe was atop the men’s overall leaderboard followed by Florida Southern College’s Tanguy Dailland, and University of Louisiana at Lafayette’s Harry Spavin. On the women’s side, University of Louisiana at Monroe’s Hanna Straltsova successfully defended her 2017 overall crown narrowly edging out University of Alabama’s Anna Gay, and University of Louisiana at Lafayette’s Alice Bagnoli place third in women’s overall.

Team Results

With all the events complete, a mere 60 points separated first and second place, but the University of Louisiana at Monroe had pulled off their title defense claiming the 3-Peat and their 29th NCWSA Nationals championship! University of Louisiana at Lafayette came so close, but ended up in second place, and University of Alabama placed third.

Place	School	Points
1	University of Louisiana at Monroe	12,175
2	University of Louisiana at Lafayette	12,115
3	University of Alabama	11,830
4	Florida Southern College	11,515
5	Rollins College	7,540
6	Texas A&M University	6,275
7	San Diego State University	5,890
8	Arizona State University	5,875
9	Clemson University	5,230
10	Western Washington University	4,845
11	Ohio State University	4,785
12	University of Wisconsin – La Crosse	3,955

By Region

The Midwestern Region had two teams in the D1 title bout and The Ohio State University took tops for the region at 11th. The Eastern Region had the most D1 qualifiers with four teams and University of Alabama claimed the top spot for the region with a third place finish. The Western Region had three teams qualify for D1, and San Diego State University bested its regional rival Arizona State University by 15 points to claim the top spot for the region at seventh place. And lastly, the South Central Region had three teams in D1 and the University of Louisiana at Monroe claimed their 29th championship!

Thank you volunteers!

A big thank you to the San Marcos River Ranch and everyone involved in making the tournament run so smoothly! 

Complete Scorebook

The complete Connelly Skis 2018 NCWSA Nationals Division 1 scorebook is available on USA Water Ski & Wake Sports’ website.

Next up Bell Acqua!

Let’s see if the University of Louisiana at Monroe can go for 4 in a row and their 30th NCWSA Nationals championship next year at Bell Acqua in Rio Linda, California.

*Cover Pic: Taylor Garcia Winning 186′ Jump PC: Molly Voska