Water Ski Club: Host Hornets take fifth at Nationals

With warm weather, a slight breeze whistling from the north and the sun glistening on the water of Shortline Lake in Elk Grove, the Hornets were set to take national prominence.

The Water Ski Club hosted the College Water Ski Nationals last Thursday through Saturday.

The mere fact that the Hornets had reached this pinnacle of collegiate water skiing was not enough as the underdog team still had something to prove.

The scholarship-less club team had to prove that they could hold their own against scholarship laden competition from such schools as Purdue, Arizona State, Michigan State, and Auburn who not only recruit from outside their state, but outside the country as well.

Sac State placed fifth in the 13-team field and first among the non-sanctioned squads.

“Coming into the competition I said I would be ecstatic with a top five finish.” coach Brian Dulgar said. “I was very pleased with our performance, I couldn’t have asked anymore of my team.”

The Hornet men carried the team with a near flawless exhibition in the slalom.

Jaime Beauchesne placed first overall in the event while tying a national record with six buoys at 39 and a half feet off of a 75-foot rope. Marcus Brown took second with his performance while Ryan Hansen placed fifth.

“I expected us to win the men’s slalom,” coach Dulgar said. “But to run 39 and a half feet off would win against the best skiers in the world.”

Yet in order to win, the men’s team had to overcome both adversity and controversy as Terry Winter’s second place finish was disqualified when Winter failed to wear his team bib.

“The NCWSA rules are very ambiguous,” coach Dulgar said. “They only state that a skier can not ski without a bib, but Terry had already skied.”

After the chief official ruled that Winter’s score should stand, the tournament committee overruled and disqualified Winter.

“The rules didn’t state the penalty for not wearing you bib,” men’s captain J.R. Wheeler said. “The tournament committee didn’t see it that way, they were pretty bull-headed.”

Dulgar added: “Terry had his bib, he just forgot to put it on before he skied. We were very angry and we went through every channel to protest. It was just a very harsh penalty for simply not having the proper garment.”

After all the controversy and ballyhoo Winter and the rest of the squad still had a tournament to compete in.

“The ruling dropped us down to third overall,” Wheeler said. “But we took it well. A rule is a rule so all we could do was go out and work harder.”

And work hard this Hornet squad did. Paced by Kelli Garrett’s tenth place run, the Hornet women finished fourth overall in the slalom while the Hornet men ended the tournament on a positive note with a fourth place finish in the jump.

Winter, responding to his disqualification in the slalom, finished his weekend with a Western Conference record jump of 174 feet, finishing third overall in the event. But his performance was overshadowed when Ryan Fitts from the University of Louisiana-Monroe broke his own national record with a jump of 193 feet. His previous mark was 191 feet.

“I was in awe,” coach Dulgar said of the record jump. “I didn’t think it was possible and when I see him I will be the first to shake his hand.”

“That was phenomenal, I mean amazing, I would say impossible on a five-foot ramp,” Wheeler said.

While Fitts’ jump had coaches, fans, and competitors alike in awe, it was the overall positive aura of the weekend that left them with a good feeling about host Sac State.

“It was a very successful event,” coach Dulgar said. “Sac State playing host helps bring national recognition to the school. None of this could have happened without ASI and my wife Cindi, who put it together.”

Underdogs no more.