Water ski club places fourth at nationals

The Purdue water ski team has just returned from the national water ski championship in San Marcos, Texas.

The club placed 4th overall in the Division II bracket, and junior Ryan Houser placed 4th overall in men's slalom. The competition took place from Oct. 10-12.

Purdue has historically been a powerhouse in water skiing and has earned entry to compete for a national title in the last six years, excluding the years COVID-19 impacted the competition.

The Boilers also hold the Midwest Conference record in both trick and slalom.

The club earned an automatic bid to nationals after placing within the top six in their conference and finishing sixth at the Midwest Regional competition.

“We were super excited,” said sophomore team captain Katie Roach. “We had really horrible weather at regionals, but our men's slalom team placed 1st, which was really exciting because it was super windy, it was raining and it was horrible conditions. We were really excited too, because the top six made it to nationals.”

In all the excitement, the club had a quick turnaround to raise funds and make travel plans to compete in nationals.

The skiers rented two large passenger vans for the 17-and-a-half-hour car ride from West Lafayette to San Marcos.

“It actually went pretty smoothly,” said men's team captain and senior Aidan Blenker. “I mean, we're all really good friends, so talking to each other made it a lot more helpful.”

Purdue has 11 men and seven women competing, and 12 additional members who made the journey to support the team.

After a long day of competitions, the team attended social events organized by the National Collegiate Water Ski Association. Some events included a rope course, axe throwing and various outdoor games.

Purdue water ski competes in three main events: slalom, trick and jump.

In slalom, a skier balances on one ski as a boat pulls them through a course. The skier must maneuver around six buoys, earning points for the fastest times and shortest routes.

Trick features a skier attempting to perform as many tricks as possible in 20 seconds without falling. Tricks include 180- and 360-degree turns, along with various flips.

In the jump, the skier uses two skis and is pulled behind a boat. They go up a ramp and attempt to jump as far as possible while successfully landing and skiing away from the jump.

The president of the club, Hayden Roberts, like many others, was new to water skiing during his freshman year.

“I've always gone to this summer camp in Missouri, and they had recreational skiing, as well as a couple of wakeboard boats,” Roberts said. “So I would wakeboard, but I never really liked skiing as much.”

But at the beginning of his freshman year, his opinions about water skiing began to shift.

“They brought the boat onto campus for the B-Involved Fair,” Roberts said. “I was like, ‘I need to do that.'”

The club’s popularity has grown immensely since the start of this year. After the B-Involved Fair, the club now has 50 active members.

The team’s growing membership is supported with increasing success, as the team returned to West Lafayette on Oct. 14 with its 4th-place trophy.