Western’s tournament ski club will send five skiers to compete in the National Collegiate Water Ski Association’s All-Stars Championship for the first time since the club was established in 1992.

Western seniors Kelly Thees, Mike Eisele and junior Kaylin Bettinger qualified for the all-star team for the first time in their collegiate water skiing careers. The all-star team is made up of 30 athletes from the Western Region. Thees and Bettinger will compete in the women’s jump event and Eisele will compete in the men’s jump event.

Western seniors Aly Howisey and Brian Zuleger round out the five Western skiers competing for the Western Region All-Star team in the ski association at the all-star tournament on May 16 and 17 in Ahoskie, N. C. Both Howisey and Zuleger will compete in the three traditional water ski events: jump, slalom and trick.

Howisey and Zuleger will compete at the tournament for the second year in a row. Last year, the Western Region All-Star team won second place overall and won first place in the slalom event.

“It’s a really big improvement,” Thees said. “It’s a team confidence boost to know we have five people going.”

To prepare for their performance in the jump event at the all-star tournament, Thees said the women are trying to improve their jump distances by practicing more challenging jump maneuvers. When the boat pulls a skier toward the jump ramp at an angle, a technique called “cutting,” Thees said the skiers gain more momentum, which allows them to nearly double their jump distance.

With three men and four women competitors at the Torneo de Cinco de Mayo tournament in Bakersfield, Calif., last weekend, Western took 13th place out of 18 teams overall. Thees said time conflicts kept many skiers from competing. Howisey and Zuleger did not compete because they already qualified for the all-star tournament at the Western Collegiate tournament on April 24 in Blaine.

At last year’s tournament all-star, Zuleger said he felt a lot of pressure competing on a team with the best skiers in the region. But once he got comfortable, he said all the skiers on the team help each other out by suggesting ways to improve their technique. Since Western’s water ski team is a club sport, attendance, practices and tournaments are not mandatory.

“We push each other to do better,” Zuleger said. “It’s a good atmosphere for competing.”

At last weekend’s tournament, Eisele placed 16th out of 49 in the men’s trick event. Western Region All-Star team chairman Harley Wallace said Eisele, who was originally an alternate on the all-star team, was moved up because other competitors from the Western Region dropped-out.

Thees’ 44-foot jump tied her for eighth place in the women’s jump event and qualified her for the all-star team. She also took 16th place in the women’s slalom event.

Wallace said the team has shown more of an improvement in performance than any other team in the region over the past year and a half, especially in the women’s jump.

The top five teams from each of the ski association’s four regions qualify for the national competition in the fall. With continuous practice, Wallace said Western has the most potential out of the Western Region’s 18 teams to qualify for nationals. In previous years, Wallace said Western’s team made fewer appearances at tournaments because most of the competitions were held in California. This year, the teams’ improvement has motivated them to participate in more tournaments, Thees said.

The warm weather in the southern parts of the Western Region provides teams from Arizona State University and Chico State University with a longer practice season, giving them an advantage over Western, Wallace said.

Since the all-star championship will be held in Asheville, N.C., Wallace said the Eastern Region has an advantage because skiers do not have to travel as far as skiers from other regions.

Taking first at the all-stars tournament is going to be a challenge for the western region team because many of the region's best skiers from schools such as Arizona State, graduated last year, Eisele said.

“Our region isn’t as strong as it used to be,” Eisele said. “It’s really up in the air air.”

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