The last time Western’s water ski team went to nationals, the athletes on the 2009 team were still wearing diapers. It has been 17 years since the club has made the trip to California to compete at the national level.

The Vikings earned a bid to the National Championship tournament Oct. 22-24 at Ironwood Lake in Bakersfield, Calif., after skiing to a fifth-place finish at regionals Oct. 10-11. Western did just enough to claim their spot at nationals, because only the top five teams at regionals qualify for the national tournament.

Western senior team captain Kelly Thees said there are many reasons Western’s trip to nationals is impressive. Western is the only sanctioned school in the state of Washington that competes in the Western Region Conference.

The only opposition the water ski team faces are teams south of the Washington border.  

While California schools often enjoy 80-degree lake water, plenty of practice time and a plethora of recruits, Western endures freezing lake temperatures, limited practice time and the constant threat of low membership.

These are just a few obstacles the Viking water ski team has encountered during their 17-year absence from nationals.

Western senior water skier Mike Eisele has been a part of the team since his freshman year and said he does not mind playing the underdog role at all.

“It’s kinda nice being the underdog,” Eisele said. “We upset a team and prevented them from going to nationals. People never really gave us respect, but after regionals we have earned it tenfold.”

Eisele said he has seen the team grow immensely during the four years he has been water skiing with the Vikings. Until his junior year, the water ski team did not even have a place to practice their jumps, which is a crucial part of competition.

“My freshman and sophomore year, we didn’t even have a lake to practice at,” Eisele said. “We had to call the owners of private Borderline Lake if we wanted to practice our jumps.”
Western has since been able to reach an agreement with the owners of Borderline Lake. This agreement allows the Vikings to practice every Monday. The new practice time may be attributed to the success the team has enjoyed this season, Eisele said.

Western’s 2009 water ski team is having a season to remember, Thees said. The Vikings are not necessarily following a Hollywood movie script, but one might not be able to tell Thees that.

“Everyone was cheering for us at regionals,” Thees said. “No one expected us to do as good as we did; it was like what happens in the movies.”

Lack of recruits is one issue Western faces each year. Thees said in the past the water ski team has only had four team members, six members shy of what it takes to field a competitive team.

“Not very many people want to water ski in rainy cold weather,” Thees said. “We don’t quite get the pool of talent that the California schools get. We do have talent here but most of the good skiers in Washington end up at California schools.”

While expectations for the teams competing at nationals will undoubtedly be high, Thees said she thinks the fact Western was not expected to make the tournament will ultimately help the team. She said you do not want to think of the other competing teams, but instead think of your own personal best score and try to beat it.

Western sophomore Carl Skerlong said he cannot wait to see what he can do at nationals. His favorite event is the long-distance jump, and he said he loves to compete.
“The whole tournament atmosphere is awesome,” Skerlong said. “It’s one of my favorite parts of college; there’s nothing like it."

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