By Keith Buckhout

Sometimes, the wake is just too much to handle.

That was the case for UK’s wakeboarding club last year, having won the club wakeboarding East regional and punching a ticket to the national championship. But just like a quick turn or a bad landing after a big jump, things got ugly quickly.

Last year, current club president Laura Mitchell won the women’s division, junior Evan Stork earned top honors in the “wakeskate” division, and Andrew Caksackkar, who graduated last year, placed second in “outlaw” division, the top division, to earn the team the East regional championship and qualify the team for the 2008 Collegiate Nationals Wakeboarding Championship in Boulder, Colo.

What happened next highlights the difference between the club wakeboarding team and any varsity team. When a varsity team qualifies for a national championship, the team’s only focus is the competition. Club teams have to prepare for the competition, but they also have to plan and finance the trip to the event. That extra responsibility proved to be a bigger challenge for the team than actually qualifying.

“We didn’t find out where the national championship would be until May,” Marshall said. “So we really didn’t have enough time to plan the trip and raise the money to go.”

The dates of the national championship were the first problem. Competition was planned for May 14 and 15, a few weeks after the team learned of the competition and a few weeks after students were dismissed for the summer. Time to plan was an issue, but raising the money for the trip proved impossible, Marshall said.

Consequently, the Cats ended their season as regional champions and missed the chance to compete in a national championship because of money.

Determined not to just stay on the sidelines, the team tried again this year.

While most people were focused on the Cats’ final non-conference football game on Sept. 27, the club wakeboarding team was in Wilmington, N.C., taking third place in their regional tournament to qualify for the Collegiate Nationals Wakeboarding Championship again.

Freshman Cameron Steiner, who placed second overall in the National Wakeboarding League Nationals this summer, led the team. Steiner’s performance in the Outlaw division earned him 86 of a possible 100 points and a third-place finish.

“I was so stoked to even place in Outlaw,” Steiner said. “And our whole team really banded together to place and qualify for nationals.”

While six other club members participated, none of them placed in the top three of their divisions. After adding those performances with Steiner’s, the Cats slid into the final qualifying spot for the national championship tournament this year.

“Last year the team relied on exceptional performances from some very talented riders,” Reed said. “This year everyone who came out rode to their full ability; it was much more of a team effort.”

With the opportunity to shine on a national stage for the second year, the club team isn’t going to let money get in the way of a possible national championship.

“We’re much more capable of making the trip to nationals this year and it will help that Lauren Mitchell will be able to compete,” Reed said, “and Boatworks (a wakeboarding company in Taylorsville, Ky.) has made most of what we’ve done possible, but we’re always looking for more sponsors or anyone who is willing to help us go.”