ULM water ski team places second in national tournament

Published November 17, 2025

A group of peple linking arms and smiling with the words "ULM Water Ski" on a sign above them.

CAPTION: The 2025-2026 ULM Water Ski Team: Back row L-R: Jaret Zoellner, Aatu Virta, Ty Kosek, Noah Pollard, Jaeden Eade, Sondre Stalheim, Nicolas Nelson, Viktor Motov, Jacob Duffy, Jake Chambers, Connor Pauley, Damir Filaretov; Front row L-R: Lucy Roberts, Nellie Allard, Ally Custer, Eline Elgesem Vang, Samantha Hoops, Eva Henderson, Carly Bonham 

MONROE, La. – The ULM water ski team placed second at the 46th Syndicate Waterskis Collegiate Water Ski National Championships in El Centro, Calif., on Oct. 18. The tournament marked ULM’s 47th consecutive appearance at Nationals. 

ULM finished second with 12,195 total points, falling short of the University of 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,” said Damir Filaretov, a senior computer science major from Dnipro, Ukraine, and one 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, this was one of the most fun years we had. The team atmosphere that we have is unreal. Everybody’s on the dock cheering for each other, and I’ve never felt so excited to go out and ski because of everyone that’s there cheering me on and wanting me to do well.” 

The Nationals was the largest tournament of the year with 24 teams competing in two divisions. ULM 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 a combined men’s and women’s team, the ULM men won the team trick category, edging out ULL by 10 points. The men also finished third in team slalom and team jump. The ULM women finished second in the trick and jump categories, and third in slalom.  

In individual honors, Filaretov finished 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 for fourth in women’s overall.  

Allard is a senior psychology major from Quebec, Canada, who has been on the ULM Water Ski team for four years. “This was honestly one of the best teams I’ve experienced in the past four years. Everybody was close together, and I feel like 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 ULM and be a part of the water ski team. “Growing up, I would see ULM winning and winning, and I kept seeing a bunch of people I looked up to come to ULM. It’s just always been my dream to go to ULM.”  

Sondre Stalheim is a senior kinesiology major from Oslo, Norway, and has served as a captain since the second semester of his freshman year. While this was a redshirt season for Stalheim, he served his team as captain. “I’m incredibly proud of what they all did. We did everything 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’s about how you can connect every skier to be the best team,” said Stalheim.   

The 2025-2026 ULM Water Ski team members are: Nellie Allard, Carly Bonham, Jacob Chambers, Ally Custer, Jacob Duffy, Jaeden Eade, Damir Filaretov, Eva Henderson, Samantha Hoops, Ty Kosek, Viktor Motov, Nicholas Nelson, Connor Pauley, Noah Pollard, Lucy Roberts, Sondre Stalheim, Eline Elgesem Vang, Aatu Virta, and Jaret Zoellner.  

Click here to view the full results from the 2025 Nationals.