Published November 17, 2025

CAPTION:The 2025-2026 Water Ski Team:Back row L-R: Jaret Zoellner, Aatu Virta, Ty Kosek, Noah Pollard, Jaeden Eade, Sondre Stalheim, Nicolas Nelson, ViktorMotov, Jacob Duffy, Jake Chambers, Connor Pauley, DamirFilaretov; Front row L-R: Lucy Roberts, Nellie Allard, Ally Custer, ElineElgesemVang,Samantha Hoops, Eva Henderson, Carly Bonham
MONROE, La.–The waterski team placed second at the 46th SyndicateWaterskisCollegiate Water Ski National Championships inEl Centro, Calif.,on Oct.18. The tournament marked ’s 47th consecutive appearance atNationals.
finished second with 12,195totalpoints,falling short of theUniversityof Louisiana Lafayette, which earned 13,230 total points.Florida Southern College, the University of Alabama, and Rollins College rounded out the top five finishers.
“This was the best Nationals I’ve been a part of,” saidDamirFilaretov, a senior computer science major from Dnipro, Ukraine,andone of three water ski team captains. “It was the most fun. I got a couple of personal bests, and the team spirit and the way we spent time together as a team was the best of my four years here.”
Ty Kosek, a junior from Buffalo, Minn., and one of the three captains, said, “Team-wise, thiswas one of the most fun years we had. The team atmosphere that we have is unreal.Everybody’son the dock cheering for each other,andI’venever felt so excited to go out and ski because of everyonethat’sthere cheering me on and wanting me to do well.”
The Nationalswasthe largest tournament of the year with 24 teams competingintwodivisions.
competed in Division 1 along with the University of Alabama, Arizona State University,
Clemson University, Florida Southern College, University of Louisiana Lafayette, Miami
of Ohio University,Purdue University,Rollins College, Texas A&M University, University
of Wisconsin,and University of Wisconsin-La Crosse.
In addition to bringing home second place as acombined men’s and women’steam,the men won the team trickcategory, edging out ULL by 10 points.The men also finished third in team slalom and team jump. Thewomen finished second in the trick and jump categories, and third in slalom.
In individual honors,Filaretovfinished tied for second in the men’s overall. Overall honors are for skiers who compete in all three events: slalom, trick, and jump.Jaeden Eade finished third in men’s slalom, while Nellie Allard finished third in women’s jump, and Samantha Hoops tied forfourth in women’s overall.
Allardis a seniorpsychology majorfrom Quebec, Canada,who has been on the Water Ski team for four years.“This was honestly one of the best teamsI’veexperienced in the past four years. Everybody was close together,and Ifeellike the energy was different. We wanted it more than ever. Everybody worked so hard. Having everybody there and seeing that you have a team behind you that will be proud of you no matter what, it just changes everything,”said Allard.
Growing up in Quebec, Allard knew that she wanted to come to and be a part of the water ski team. “Growing up,Iwould see winning andwinning,and I kept seeing a bunch of people I looked up to come to .It’sjust always been my dream to go to .”
Sondre Stalheim is a senior kinesiology major from Oslo, Norway, andhas served as a captain since the second semester of hisfreshmanyear. Whilethis wasa redshirtseason for Stalheim,heserved his team as captain. “I’mincredibly proud of what they all did. We dideverything that we needed to do to the best of our ability. “Being a captain has shown me a different side of collegiate water skiing, seeing all the work that goes behind the scenes.It’sabout how you can connect every skier to be the best team,” said Stalheim.
The 2025-2026 Water Ski team members are:Nellie Allard, Carly Bonham, Jacob Chambers, Ally Custer,Jacob Duffy,Jaeden Eade,DamirFilaretov, Eva Henderson, SamanthaHoops, TyKosek, ViktorMotov,Nicholas Nelson,Connor Pauley, Noah Pollard,Lucy Roberts, Sondre Stalheim, ElineElgesemVang, Aatu Virta, and Jaret Zoellner.
Clickto view the full results from the 2025 Nationals.
