Over the past month we have checked in with three NCWSA record holders: Lauren Morgan, Zack Worden, and Will Asher. Over the next two weeks, we are checking in with our Women’s Slalom Record Holders! First up, Manon Costard (Instagram), who was the first to set the current women’s slalom record that was later tied by Samantha Dumala. Manon first skied for Florida Southern College (Website | Instagram) for the last two years of her undergraduate education, graduating in December of 2012. She then moved to University of Louisiana at Monroe (ULM) (Instagram | Facebook) for her MBA, graduating in December of 2015. Manon broke the slalom record during the 2014 South Central Region’s Collegiate Regionals tournament in Rosharon, Texas with a score of 105 buoys (3@39.5’ off).
As you might imagine, Manon’s favorite event is slalom. She says “it is the best mix of strength, technique, high speed, and gliding” on the water. While slalom is currently her favorite event, it wasn’t always that way. Manon started out loving tricks as a kid. For a period of time, her favorite was jump – she even won the Junior World Championships!
Manon is currently slalom skiing around the world on the pro tour. She has been competing in close to every pro tournament that exists for slalom in the past few years. She is also furthering her education – again! This time Manon is studying for a digital marketing masters through an online program from a school at home in France. While studying, she is obviously still very involved with the sport and says “water skiing is very addictive and tough to turn your back on.” Manon plans to do her best to make everything work and keep skiing for as long as possible. She hopes that she “can help more people hear about it [and] discover the sport we love so much,” hopefully allowing people to share the same passion we all have for water skiing.
While Manon had been competing for several years prior to college, and is still competing, she says that collegiate skiing brings about the most amazing side of the sport. She says “it’s not about performances; it is about having fun on the water, meeting people, spending time with your friends and team, and introducing many kids to the sport.” It reminds her of why she chose to be involved in water skiing in the first place. Collegiate skiing gives so many people the opportunity to discover and fall in love with water skiing. Manon says that collegiate skiing is “all about the experience” and she is infinitely thankful to have lived it, and broke the slalom record while she was at it! The best thing about her record breaking was having her friends and her team cheering for her. They were all as happy as she was with her skiing. “Having a team behind you is something we don’t experience very often when competing in an individual sport, and that is what collegiate skiing was all about to me,” Manon reflects.
Her parting words of wisdom to all college students out there: “If anyone out there is debating whether to try the collegiate skiing thing or not, I highly advise you to do so. I promise you won’t regret it. No matter what level or skiing experience you have, it is the best way to spend your university years.”
Manon Costard’s Record Setting Slalom Run
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