The ski boat whips around the lake, spraying water high into the sky as it pulls a skier through the ever foaming water. After three days of heated competition between 12 schools, the Western Washington Water Ski team came out on top and brought home the Division II national championship.
Going into this year, water ski President Matt Kienbaum had big goals for the team and hoped to bring his group of skiers to compete for the national title.
With 15 full-time members, the skiers trained hard during the year. Working with team coach Terry Goodman helped propel the team to a new level of competition.
“Goodman helped us out at every practice. He’s there prepping the boat, coaching every skier, telling us what we are doing wrong and what we are doing right and what we need to improve on,” Kienbaum said. “He’s definitely a big backbone to our team and I definitely don’t think we could have won without him.”
As a team, the Western skiers worked tirelessly to gain as many team points as they could. The team gained the most overall points, which led to its victory.
“We had really good skiers,” team captain Jaye Morris said. “But it wasn’t that individuals placed well, it was the combined effort of every single person, made it so we got the points to win.”
With the help of their coach and the strong student leadership, the Western water ski team was able to rise above and beyond and clench the victory over all other DII schools in the region.
“We didn’t know, up until the time to do the awards. It was a big moment to find out we were going to be called up first,” Kienbaum said. “It’s great to be apart of and then get recognized in front of the whole country.”
As the days grow shorter and the water gets colder, the Western water ski team will be carrying this victory with them through the winter months.
