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The precision required to jump into the century club means that any error can be disastrous. A popular saying among collegiate skiers is “One for the team. One for yourself. And one for the hospital.”
Who took this to heart and had some of the scariest jumps this year? Videos and photos highly recommended!
I would like to nominate Luke Waslo from Grand Valley for the “Most likely to Hit the Side Curtain Award” For those of you who don’t know, Luke is a freshman who is willing to try most things that are thrown at him…one of them including jump. At Allentucky this past year, luke tried jump for the first time that weekend and almost earned biggest crash of the weekend by doing about 3/4 of a somersault sideways off of big red. Luckily Luke was a-okay, but his big fail off of big red will be the most memorable.
Let me tell you a story about a man from Madison named Will Maccarone. At Minnesota Shredfest, Will’s first tournament of the year, he debated all day whether or not he would attempt to 3/4. After many wise words of wisdom telling him absolutely not to, he went out and stomped his first 2 single cuts. Feeling confident, he naturally went for a 3/4 cut *for the first time ever* on his third jump and, realizing he was late, body slams the water, surfs across the entire side curtain (still holding onto the rope), and went flying limp through the air. After miraculously coming out of this crash unscathed, I think Mr. Maccarone has earned him self most likely to have actually hit the side curtain. Video linked below
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1NM3MjpaIIzyEVj3XARruMbynqC6U1Ert/view?usp=drivesdk
I think that Sean Freitag’s performance at regionals this year is a textbook “One for the team. One for yourself. And one for the hospital.” We saw him absolutely send 2 jumps off the rip and then his 3rd jump had left him in the air backwards, a ski flying in the air, and all of our team speechless. Luckily he didn’t break anything other than the fin one of his skis!
Sean Freitag from Southern Illinois University is probably the most entertaining jumper to watch. Not in the “wow-factor” kind of way, but in the “WOW-factor” way. He can pull off almost any jump even with the poorest of form. He goes balls to the wall every time he gets the chance to even look at a ramp. At regionals he gave the side curtain a little touch and had a spectacular wipeout, thankfully the worst of it was only losing his breath, but he did damage his skis. Not even a scary fall could stop Sean from giving it his all and sending every jump.
I would like to nominate Will Maccarone for Most Likely to Hit the Side Curtain! For those who were not at Minnesota this year, Will actually did hit the side curtain after waiting a little too long on his ¾ (because he had never ¾ before). But even beyond that particularly epic send, Will is one of the most confident and daring skiers I have ever met. Once he’s strapped on a pair of skis, Will seems to demonstrate very little regard for his own physical well being. However, both on and off the water, he is constantly pushing to be the best for himself and for our team. Out of all of the falls I have seen, Will has taken some of the worst, but he somehow always comes out of them with a smile on his face, ready to go again. Pre-nationals, Will had a season PB of 82 feet, and in true Willard fashion, he didn’t let the side curtain scare him. He booted a 98 foot jump at nationals, earning himself a 16 foot PB and one of the best photos of the waterski season.
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