CSULB water-ski team does a figure eighth

The conditions were ideal: temperatures in the low '80s, not a ripple on the lake and the 49ers were coming off one of their best tournament finishes this year.

But the water-ski team couldn't get things going last weekend at Ski West Lake in Bakersfield.

CSULB finished eighth, while Arizona State took the overall title in the semester's final Western Region tournament.

"Things just didn't go our way,'' team president Kim McCoy said.

Although the team didn't fare as well as it would have liked, some individuals did perform well.

Senior Eric Baird, the only veteran jumper of the group, placed 20th out of 56 competitors in slalom and McCoy finished eighth in trick competition.

"Twentieth is all right, but I didn't even come close to my personal best,'' Baird said. "I'm a little disappointed.''

For McCoy, eighth is her highest finish in the trick competition.

A high point was that all of the men jumpers landed at least two jumps.

A group of good young skiers has helped the team improve from last season, despite inadequate practice facilities, where they don't have access to a slalom course or a jump ramp.

"The fact that we don't practice on a course really hurts our team,'' McCoy said. "All of the top teams have a course and a ramp that they can use everyday.''