Gators, snakes, & skiers oh my! — Louisiana at Lafayette Wins 2018 Fleur de Ski

6AM tornado warnings!?

This past weekend, the south central region headed to Lafayette, Louisiana for some Cajun food and shreddin’ and the university of Louisiana Lafayette’s annual Fleur de Ski tournament. With every day being a new season, everyone crossed their fingers for good weather. Some skiers woke with the 6AM tornado warnings, but others woke to the groupme message saying there was an hour delay.

Women’s A was up first. Despite all the close calls, the Airport Lake was calm and glassy and ready for some shredding. Louisiana at Monroe came in strong, sweeping the podium with skier Aliaksandra Danisheuskaya in first with 5 buoys at 34mph 35′ off, Hanna Straltsova in second with 3.5 buoys at 34mph 35′ off, and Siani Oliver tying for third with Louisiana at Lafayette skier Bailey Austin with 3 buoys at 34mph 35′ off. When the points combined for each team, ULM took first as a team in women’s slalom, followed by their in-state rival ULL in second, and Texas State snagging the bronze.

Men’s A Slalom quickly followed as the weather started to turn. After rotation two, lightning began and everyone huddled in the Rajin’ Cajuns very spacious equipment shed. Eventually the lightning stopped and the rain cleared, and we began again with rotation three. Men’s A was dominated by the Louisiana schools. ULL coming in first with Ryan Canepa (4 buoys at 36mph 38′ off) and third with Conley Pinette (1 buoy at 36mph 38′ off). ULMs Tom Poole wedged in between the two, snagging the silver with 2.5 buoys at 36mph 38′ off. In the team scores for men’s slalom, Louisiana at Lafayette took the gold, Monroe took the silver, and Texas A&M claimed the bronze.

Now, for some slalom honorable mentions to us mere mortals whom have never won a national championship. Texas State skier, Sarah Stevenson crushed buoys with a final score of 2.5 buoys at 15′ off at 34mph. While Oklahoma State skier Alec Shuler showed he could compete in shortline with the elite skiers by scoring 1 buoy at 36mph 32′ off.

Everyone’s favorite event followed slalom; Trick!

Everyone’s favorite event followed slalom; Trick! And with the lovely gator sighting just minutes before, everyone was extra motivated to land their tricks. We began with Women’s A. ULM and ULL crushed it, sweeping places 1-9, with ULM’s Aliaksandra Danisheuskaya coming in first (3,740 points), ULL’s Alice Bagnoli in second (3,230 points), and ULM’s Katerina Svecova in third (2,900 points). Following the onslaught of ULM and ULL skiers, came Texas A&M skier Rachel Gawlick in 10th, Arkansas skier Madison Hayden in 11th, and a battle of the Texas schools for 12th with TAMU’s Hannah Cook, UT’s Veronica Stuckey, and UT’s Madison Tebo all tying.

Men’s trick followed with no further interruptions from the weather. While ULM skier Danylo Filchenko snagged first with 5,830 points, ULL showed consistency winning 2nd – 5th place. ULL’s Conley Pinette narrowly edged out teammate Harry Spavin for second place with a score of 4,110 points to Harry’s 4,100! In the team totals for men’s trick ULL took the top spot followed by ULM, and Texas A&M proved they can trick with the best, taking third. The ski day concluded with trick, and the hungry skiers headed to gator cove for some crawfish.

Getting Sendy on a Windy Day!

The next morning, eager jumpers awoke to sunny skies, brisk temperature and a bit of a heavy head wind. There were many wipe outs (shout out to UT for giving Brody a scare and making him jump in with all of his clothes on, crocks and all) and there were many full sends, but the wonderful thing about airport lake is they have bleachers set up in front of the ramp for the best view of the most daring event; JUMP!

Women’s A jump resulted with ULM skier Aliaksandra Danisheuskaya, coming in first with 117 feet leap. ULL skier Carlotta Bonnemann won second with jump of 110 feet, and ULM skier Hanna Straltsova came in third at 105 feet. The men got equally sendy, with ULL skier Conley Pinette winning first with 161 feet, ULM skier Brandon Schipper taking second with 142 feet, and ULL skier Brody Newton placing third with 134 feet.

Team Overall Placements

The final combined team results were:

1. University of Louisiana at Lafayette
2. University of Louisiana at Monroe
3. University of Texas at Austin
4. Texas A&M University
5. Texas State University
6. University of Arkansas
7. Oklahoma State University
8. Louisiana State University

Huge thanks to the University of Louisiana Lafayette’s Rajun Cajun Ski Team for hosting. Between providing food, the slip and slide, and the ever-changing weather, y’all put on one amazing tournament! Also huge thanks to our lovely judges, boat drivers and other officials. We couldn’t do it without y’all!

The full scorebook can be found on USA Water Ski & Wake Sports website.