2017 Bama Bonanza

University of Alabama Water Ski Sweeps Podium at 2017 Bama Bonanza

Adam Koehler Events, Regions, Results, Southern & Atlantic Coastal Region

This past weekend the University of Alabama Water Ski Team hosted at home at Lymanland USA in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Alabama was joined at home by teams from Clemson University, Auburn University, University of Georgia, and making their 2017 Fall debut the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. With warm weather and sunny skies all weekend here is how the events played out…

2017 Bama Bonanza - Clemson Water Ski

Slalom

2017 Bama Bonanza - Slalom: Clemson Water Ski
Clemson killed it again on Instagram (again) with stories following each slalom skier’s run.

In the men’s slalom event, the Alabama men took the top 5 spots with their 5 men’s slalom team skiers. Every single one of them skied at least into 38′ off with the men’s slalom winner, Sam Greenwood, skiing to 2 buoys at 39.5′ off! Sam was followed by Russell Durand in second and Payton Phillips in third. Not to be out done, the Alabama women’s team also took the top 5 spots in women’s slalom with their 5 women’s slalom team skiers. Brie Carter lead the way with 4 buoys at 38′ off, followed by Geneva Roach in second, and Eloise Whitlock in third.

Trick

Going into trick, no other team had placed a skier higher than Alabama, and the Tide continued to dominate when the trick event came. In women’s tricks Alabama again placed all of its skiers atop the leaderboard with Abbi Grathwohl tricking to first place with a score of 2,910, followed by Julianna Boskus and Katie Horton who tied for second with a score of 2,380 points. On the men’s side Alabama again placed its 5 skiers atop the board with Sam Greenwood taking another individual event title. Sam lead the pack with 4,210 points followed by Quinn Haines in second with 3,220 points, and Santiago Varas in third with 2,350 points.

Jump

Mariah Fields

Jump rolled around to see Alabama skiers having yet to be beaten by any other skier, and with some great leapers on the team the other teams were hard pressed to break the trend. In Women’s jump, Alabama only skied 4 women and set them all atop the board with Mariah Fields jumping her way to victory with a jump of 133 feet. Following Mariah, Abbi Grathwohl placed second with a leap of 123 feet, and Juliana Boskus rounded out the top three with a jump of 114 feet. In the men’s event, Sam Greenwood was looked to sweep the events, and Alabama looked to maintain its outstanding skiing feat. When all the jumping was finished, Sam Greenwood has jumped his way to a third event title with a jump of 172 feet, followed by Quinn Haines in second (169 ft), and Santiago Varas in third (166 ft).

Combined Team Final Rankings

Alabama freshmen Quinn, Katie, and Ben

The University of Alabama put on a show having all their skiers atop the leaderboard in every single event, as they skied their way to the tournament title!

  1. University of Alabama
  2. Clemson University
  3. Auburn University
  4. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
  5. University of Georgia

You can view the full scorebook on the USA Water Ski website.

On to Regionals!

This upcoming weekend the Florida Southern College will be hosting the 2017 Eastern Collegiate Regionals in Groveland, Florida at Jack Travers’ Sunset Lakes.

Feature photo credit: University of Alabama Water Ski Team Instagram

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Adam Koehler

I am Clinical Assistant Professor at the University of Illinois Chicago. I earned my Ph.D. from the University of California, Riverside and Bachelor's and Masters from Marquette University. I skied collegiately at Marquette and in 2009 I received the NCWSA Outstanding Leader Award. I was NCWSA Operations Committee Chair for 7 years, and the NCWSA Secretary for 8 years.