The Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns Water Ski team won the National Collegiate Water Ski Association Championship Tournament on Saturday, Oct. 12, marking the squad’s fifth consecutive national championship and further solidifying their spot as the dynastic water ski program of the past decade.
In San Marcos, Texas, across five different events for men’s and women’s water ski and wake sports, the Cajuns totaled 14 podium placements and finished the weekend with 12,850 cumulative points. The Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks and Alabama Crimson Tide followed close behind at second and third.
Head Coach Ryan Gonzales detailed some of the hardships the team had to face heading into the championship, including two of their top athletes entering different competitions and some injuries during the weekend.
“We were out two of our good, strong skiers but the rest of the team knew what they had to do to fill that void and step up their game to make sure we did whatever we had to do to win,” Gonzales said.
“There were a lot of obstacles to overcome before the season even started, but in true Cajuns fashion, the team stepped up and did what they had to do.”
Louisiana freshman Lara Butlin topped the field with a gold placement in Overall performance, including a 123-foot jump good for a tie in bronze with teammate Emily Wenzel.
Senior slalom skier Ali Garcia pulled off a 1.25 at 39’ off performance for a silver placement. Fellow slalom skier and Cajuns team captain Annemarie Wroblewski talked about the difficulty of maintaining control and executing with a shortened rope in slalom competition.
“At thirty-nine off, the rope does not reach the buoy,” Wroblewski said. “You have to use your body length to get outside of the buoy. Honestly, she makes it look really easy. It’s something that’s so short where you actually have to pull off a lot of technique and skill.
“She is leaning really hard against the boat, there is a lot of load on the rope when she’s going right behind the boat specifically.”
Wroblewski also talked about the rigor of the team’s training over the season. Slalom skiers often train four to six times a week, and she stressed the importance of using rest days effectively.
“For me, getting to that short rope and having that much load on my body is difficult for a lot of days in a row, so I need to take time off in between,” Wroblewski said.
Senior slalom skier Griffin Stange spoke about being a part of a program as successful as this one, and contrasted the mounting pressure that some athletes might feel through the seasons to this program’s attitude.
“If anything, I think we’ve benefitted from our continued success. I think the victories have snowballed on one another, and not only has it helped with recruitment, like more and more people wanna come here and ski with us and win with us, but I think also just the confidence of knowing that we can win has also built,” Stange said.
“Everybody skied amazing, nobody had any nervous performance, everybody skied lights out, everybody did as good as they could do, and I think a lot of that was because we were going into it so confident that we could win.”
Sage Pottbecker took home the event’s Most Supportive Skier award. Several of her teammates, including junior trick jumper Kenda Nathan, spoke about the impact of her energy, positivity and team spirit throughout the season.
“Sage on our team is the spirit extraordinaire,” Nathan said. “When we get in the vans to leave at five in the morning, she’s in her pepper costume, chili glasses on, beads on, noisemakers on.”
“She’s there for everyone, she’s just positive energy on our team and she keeps the spirits high, especially during nationals. This year she slalomed and jumped… even on days where she skis, she’s fully painted, cheering for people, making sure everyone else is okay,” Nathan said.
Sophomore jumper Florian Parth took home silver with a 182-foot launch in men’s jump, just one foot behind gold’s distance. He spoke about the positivity of skiing with Louisiana’s team. “The spirit is a thing to admire. It keeps a mixed group of people together,” Parth said. “It’s really nice, training with your friends and being there for a team.”
Winning has more or less sustained the financial viability of the team over the years. With budgeting in student fees, donations and athlete-run fundraisers, the team has only just gotten to prove their talent season after season.
“We really appreciate all of the people who donate to our team,” Nathan said. “We are very much student-run, and we collect our own funds. Books are expensive and gas is expensive and skis are expensive, so we really do appreciate the people that help out our team.”
On Wednesday, Oct. 23, the Cajuns waterski team will be holding a meet-and-greet event from 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at Pete’s On Johnston.