Water Ski

Water Ski Teams Set to Compete at NCWSA Eastern Regionals

LAKELAND - The Florida Southern Men's and Women's Water Ski teams will put their No. 1 rankings on the line this weekend as they compete at the 2012 NCWSA Eastern Regional Championships at Lymanland Lake in Duncanville, Ala. This year's Eastern Regional Championship is being hosted by the University of Alabama.

The Mocs, who opened their season by posting back-to-back wins on Sept. 15-16 at Lake Grew against Rollins College, is the top-ranked team in both the latest men's and women's NCWSA rankings and are the No. 1 ranked combined team in the nation in the poll. Alabama is the No. 2 ranked women's team, the No. 3 ranked men's team and the No. 2 ranked team overall, while defending NCWSA National Champion Louisiana-Monroe is ranked third overall as they have the No. 2 ranked men's team and the No. 4 ranked women's team.

At last season's Eastern Regional Championship, which was held at Lake Grew in Polk City, the Mocs took home the title after scoring 6,145 points. Alabama finished second overall as they scored 1,760 points.

The top five teams at this weekend's Eastern Regional Championship will qualify for the National Collegiate Water Ski National Championships, which is scheduled for Oct. 18-20 in Zachary, La. The national championship meet will consist of the top five teams from each of the four regions.

In its dual meet against Rollins, the Mocs opened with a 1,440-950 win over the Tars on Sept. 15 and then posted a 1,360-850 win over the Tars on Sept. 16.

At the meet on Sept. 15, freshman Thibault Dailand (Orthez, France) was the men's overall winner as he scored 280 points after placing first in the tricks competition, the slalom and the jumps, while senior Manon Costard (Marseille, France) was the women's overall winner as she scored 220 points after finishing first in both jumps and slalom and second in tricks competition. At the second meet on Sept. 16, Dailand was the men's overall winner as he was first in all three events, while Costard was the women's overall winner as she was first in both slalom and jumps and second in tricks. In the slalom event, Costard set a new collegiate record as she recorded 2.5 buoys at 39.5 feet.