San Diego State Wins the 2018 Teskila Sundown

San Diego State’s annual Teskila Sundown took place April 14th and 15th on Sundown 1 in Newberry Springs, California. A total of nine schools competed; California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, Arizona State University, University of California, Los Angeles, Sacramento State University, California State University, Chico, University of California, Davis, University of San Diego, Bakersfield College, and tournament host San Diego State University. This Jersey Shore themed tournament was action packed to say the least with a head-to-head exhibition slalom battle, grenades for placement of trophies, and a bit too much cheetah print.

Slalom Battles to Determine Head to Head

The weekend kicked off to the sound of air horns throughout “tent city” Saturday morning at 7:00 am. As skiers literally rolled out of their tents, SDSU had an awesome hot breakfast of pancakes, eggs, and hash-browns prepared and ready to devour. Men’s slalom was off to a better start this week with less openers missed and tons of personal bests. Shout out to California State University, Chico as every single one of their men went home with a PB! The weather was prime and the sun was shining as the men’s field picked up. The competition was impressive with Santiago Robledo of San Diego State taking the win with 4 buoys at 36mph 35′ off followed by Arizona State’s Jackson Baines with 4.5 buoys at 36mph 32′ off. Shaun Powelson of Bakersfield College took third for the second weekend in a row by grabbing 2 buoys at 36mph 32′ off, barely beating out Ryan Fitzpatrick’s 1.5 at 36mph 32′ off. These top four men skied themselves into the evening’s slalom head-to-head exhibition. Women’s slalom was full of mini course attempts, speeds slower than those of trick skiing, and tons of smiles! Cal Poly’s Kaela Kalabany was stoked to tie Madeline Brooks of UCLA for second, with her first tournament podium, and a tournament personal best! Both skiers skied to 2.5 buoys at 34mph 22′ off. The play maker of the weekend, Kari McCollum, a junior at San Diego State took the win with 1.5 buoys at 34mph 28′ off to add yet another gold to her collection. Sacramento State’s Ciara Dulgar rounded out the top four securing her spot in the head-to-head with 1.5 buoys at 30mph 15 off!

Moving Beyond Counting To Six!

After what seemed like a lifetime’s worth of slalom, it was time for some trick skiing. The men kicked off trick skiing with a tie between Arizona State’s Ryan Fitzpatrick and Ty Vaio of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo with a score of 1120 points. Ty’s little brother Alec Vaio, a freshman from Arizona State University, joined his brother Ty and teammate Ryan on the podium with a third place finish scoring 980 points. With Jackson Baines (ASU) in fourth place and Hayden Brake (Cal Poly) in fifth, this was a very close battle between ASU and Cal Poly for the men’s trick title. ASU stacking 3 in the top five, and teammate Dylan Sullivan grabbing 10th resulted in a win for Arizona State by just over 100 points. On the women’s side of the event, Makayla Haw of Sacramento State redeemed herself after missing her opener in the slalom to tie San Diego’s Kari McCollum’s impressive toe pass for a score of 1740 points. With those two tied in first, Madeline Brooks, a senior from UCLA and easily one of the Western Region’s most consistent skiers on the water, put down a solid hand pass to take third place. Cal Poly had a tiny bit of ground to make up to make up to take the team tricks title and their women were up to the task, out tricking Arizona State’s women, but the small lead ASU built in the men’s event proved to be enough as Arizona State held on to the team trick title by a mere 20 team points!

Head to Head for Bragging Rights!

The talk of the tournament had finally arrived — the head to head slalom competition! All day, it had been a struggle for time to even make the exhibition happen, but the competition had been the talk of the tournament so Ty and Kari figured out how to make it work! For the Teskila Sundown head to head exhibition, scores were handicapped based on previous NCWSA rankings/scores. The handicap was then used to calculate how well the skier did during the head to head. So skiers were skiing against themselves at the same time as they were skiing against everyone else.

The lucky eight contestants were paired into competitive head to head heats; Madeline Brooks vs Kari McCollum, Kaela Kalabany vs Ciera Dulgar, Jackson Baines vs Shaun Powelson, and Ryan Fitzpatrick vs Santiago Robledo. Each pairing participated in one round of non elimination head to head skiing where the first skier would run a pass and then the second skier would run their pass. Each skier was allowed to continue to ski until they missed a pass. In the end, it was Ciera Dulgar from Sac State who won the whole thing with +8 buoy handicapped score. Madeline Brooks came in right on her heels with a +7.5 and Kaela Kalabany in third with a +4. Unfortunately Jackson Baines, who decided to opt up to 35′ off from 22′ off, came in last place at -12.5 buoys from his handicap. All in all, everyone was thrilled to watch the exhibition and all the participants had a great time skiing!

Jump Day!

Saturday night was full of Mexican food followed by some spray tans, awesome raffle prizes won by Connie, and a few awards. The excitement continued into Sunday for what is most people’s favorite day, jump day of course! Women’s crash was bright and early but thanks to SDSU’s use of air horns, everyone was on time and ready for big red! To get right to it, Kari McCollum from San Diego State blew out the field with a collegiate PB of 101 ft to finish off her successful weekend at Sundown. Cal Poly’s Kyla Jo Miller jumped into second place with a leap of 74 ft followed by UCLA’s Madeline Brooks with 66 ft jump to take home third place.

Shout out to Madeline Brooks who managed to rip the entire jump boot off the jump ski yet she still made it safely back to the dock. If anyone has jump skis, UCLA may be interested. Men’s jump started off strong with many first time jumpers and “butts” to follow! The last skier off the dock for men’s A jump, Hayden Brake (Cal Poly) took the win with a leap of 135 ft. Very impressive considering his semi-recent out-the-front crash leaving him timid towards big red. Arizona State University’s Ryan Fitzpatrick took home a close second place with 133 ft, followed by Cal Poly’s Ty Vaio jumping into 3rd place with 117 ft.

Team Overall Placements

With another Teskila Sundown in the books, San Diego State University put on an awesome tournament and ended up with the team overall title followed by California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, and Arizona State University. Major thanks to all of the judges, scorers, and a special thanks to Kari McCollum and Ty Vaio! The weekend would not have happened without their endless hard work. Here’s how the rest of the team placements shook out:

1. San Diego State University
2. California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo
3. Arizona State University
4. University of California, Los Angeles
5. California State University, Sacramento
6. California State University, Chico
7. University of California, Davis
8. University of San Diego
9. Bakersfield College

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