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October 12, 2005

ULM Water Ski Team Member Breaks Record; Team Prepares for Nationals as No. 1 Seed

The National Championship Water Ski from the University of Louisiana at Monroe, lived up to their title at the 2005 National Collegiate Water Ski Association's South Central Regionals held recently in Austin, Texas. The NCWSA web site says, "...the stage is now being set for what is bound to go down as the greatest National Championships in the 27 year history of the NCWSA. The University of Louisiana at Monroe Indians have won the honor of representing the Region as it's top seed in Paducah by edging those feisty Ragin' Cajuns from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette by a slim margin of 120 points (8,070-7,950). These two teams are matched as closely as any two teams can be. It's all going to depend on who makes the fewest mistakes in Paducah."

The scores were like this. First on the water was the women's jump event which ended in a tie for first place between ULM's Natalia Berdnikova and Regina Jaquess, who each jumped 139 ft.

In women's overall, ULM's Regina Jaquess came in 2nd place and Natalia Berdnikova of ULM finished 3rd.

Thomas Degasperi of ULM taking top honors in men's slalom with a score of 2 @ 41 off. ULM's Ian Trapp came in third with 1 @ 39 off.

Aliaksei Zharnasek from ULM, set a pending NCWSA record with 6,850 to win the men's trick event, and ULM's Ryan Dodd placed 3rd with 3,520.

World Slalom Champion and ULM student, Regina Jaquess, came in first in women's slalom with 2.5 @ 38 off. Breanne Wagner from ULM took 3rd with 4 @ 35 off.

In women's trick, ULM's Kate Adriensen came in 3rd with 3,340.

The team heads to NCWSA Nationals in Paducah, Ken., Oct. 20-21.
Competing for the ULM women's team will be Kate Adriaensen, Belgium; Natallia Bernikava, Belarus; Carly Clifton, Ohio; Regina Jaquess, Georgia; Laura Lammi, Finland; and Breanne Wagner, Canada.

The men's team includes Joel Bohlin, Illinois; Tyler Collins, Kentucky; Kyle Dammann, Tennessee; Thomas Degasperi, Italy; Ryan Dodd, Canada; Tyler McDermeit, Florida; Federico Minelli, Italy; Ian Trapp, Louisiana; and Aleksei Zharnasek, Belarus.

For more information about the ULM Water Ski team, visit them online at http://www.ulmwaterskiteam.com.

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