| Alex Lauretano Breaks NCWSA Trick Record |
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When a premier athlete sets their mind to something, sometimes there is nothing that can stand in their way. The collegiate water ski community was treated to such a display this Spring when standout athlete Alex Lauretano from University of Louisiana Monroe shattered the 5 year old women's trick record by posting a score of 4930 points. This record fell at the Polar Bear Classic at Stevenson Ski Ranch in Conroe Texas. The old record was held by past teammate Clementine Lucine (FSC) with a score of 4,530. The pass involves ten unique tricks, with two repeated. Here is the record breaking run:
Alex stated that this is her usual hand pass in 3-event tournaments, although sometimes she gets a BB in time, which would have put the record over 5000 points in one pass. The record-holder finds herself in very elite company. The other current NCWSA Record Holders are past World Champion Will Asher, past World Champion Jimmy Seimers, current World Record Holder Regina Jaquess, and past Junior World Champion Ryan Fitts. But within this elite company - Alex is the only athlete to currently hold 2 NCWSA Records. She is also the proud owner of the NCWSA Women's Jump Record - 155 Feet (47.7 meters). When asked if breaking the NCWSA records was a goal of hers she said "Yes. I wasn't sure if I was going to do my last year of collegiate skiing, but thought it would be a fun change in my life and I really wanted to try and break the trick and jump records." Consider that mission accomplished. The statement 'if at first you don't succeed, try try again' could apply to Alex's tireless pursuit of this record. In fact, she broke the trick record in the fall season but it wasn't approved due to not having the correct officials in place for the event. "I was really disappointed in the fall because I broke the record and it didn't get approved. So I really wanted to get another opportunity. I really loved it there (ULM) so I decided to stick around for more." As if this record isn't impressive enough standing alone, its important to note that Alex had a hellacious jump crash at Collegiate Nationals in Texas in Fall 2010 where she separated her shoulder. When asked how she is doing health-wise she said "I took the whole winter off and after an MRI mid-January my Doctor said I could start skiing again. It's feeling pretty good, and I thought my shoulder was completely healed but I caught my arm in the water the other day doing a mobe (back flip full twist), and it really hurt my shoulder." Truly amazing that she shattered this record while clearly not even at 100% health. NCWSA does not have the 6 flip regulation that international tournaments have in their rule book. Since Alex is quite fantastic at flipping, she weighed in on how many flips she thinks are possible in a 20 second pass. "I did a run with 7 flips a few seasons ago in a collegiate tournament, but it ended up not being more points, don't think I am quite fast enough" said Alex. "Some of the guys can definitely take advantage of that. I bet they could get 8 or 9 in." Congratulations to Alex Lauretano on her terrific achievement. She ends her college career with 2 NCWSA Records to her name. |
