Oct. 30, 2002
For Immediate Release
To: News Directors and News Editors
From: Veronika Avery, Coordinator of Media Relations, 342-5444

It happened in Tianjin, China on Aug. 25, 2002. A member of The University of Louisiana at Monroe ski team, Regina Jaquess, swept all three women's events to win the University Water Ski World Championships. The United States was also represented on the winner's podium after fellow ULM ski team member Joey Blakley finished with 7,980 to win the silver medal in the men's tricks division. Both ULM students were members of the U.S. University Water Ski Team.

Jaquess, a freshman at ULM, returned to Monroe with five Gold Medals (including individual and team overall), three World University Championship records, and one NCWSA Collegiate National record. Her slalom performance of 1 1/2 at 10.75m (39 1/2 off) in the preliminaries was good enough for not only a World University Championship record, but also eclipsed the National Collegiate Water Ski Association USA slalom record set by Kristi Overton over a decade ago at 6 at 38 feet off.

Her performance of 7,260 points in tricks was also a World University Championship record and her winning leap of 161 feet in jumping was another World University Championship record (Note: these performances were not eligible for NCWSA US records since IWSF rules were used allowing two passes in tricks and a 5 1/2 feet ramp in jumping). She scored a perfect 3,000 points in overall competition, setting the standard in each event.

Regina is no stranger to winning, you can see all of her skiing accomplishements on her webpage, http://www.reginajaquess.com/

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