Two leading members of the national championship water ski team were dismissed Monday for breaking curfew the night after winning the title.
Skiers Zach Worden and Claudio Koestenberger, who finished first and second respectively in the jump competition at nationals, have been removed from the team and are forced to forfeit their scholarships for the spring semester, according to statements given by the two skiers.
Wordon said head coach Treina Landrum kicked the two skiers off the team for missing curfew because the two were celebrating winning the national title. But Wordon said the judgment was unfair because assistant coach Heather Reilly gave the team permission to be out later than the stated curfew.
“We stay at a different hotel from the other schools, and all year we follow the strict guidelines,” Worden said. “Then our last night we wanted to let loose after winning nationals.”
Wordon said he and Koestenberger went out with Wordon’s parents to Mike’s Bar in Tigerland, a cluster of bars in Baton Rouge near where the team was staying, assuming they had permission from the assistant coach.
After returning to Monroe, Wordon said Reilly denied to Landrum she gave them permission, but she later apologized to Wordon with a phone call while addressing the team.
Wordon’s father, John, said he did not hear with his own ears Reilly give permission to be out past curfew, but he said “that was the understanding that was prevalent in the lobby among the team and parents.”
The Wordons said their biggest complaint about the whole incident was the lack of clearly defined rules on the team and the heavy judgment passed on the team’s top two skiers based, on what they say, are no defined guidelines.
“She just dropped the hammer on Zach, and she dropped it hard,” John Wordon said. “[Landrum’s] rules set everyone up for failure. She just gets worse each year.”
They also said the team abided by a strict curfew the night before the competition while other schools were out partying. They said they felt celebrating after winning was appropriate.
However, this is not Wordon or Kostenberger’s first run-in with Landrum and her style of justice.
When last Spring semester ended, several team members were in Baton Rouge on their own time, unrelated to any team activities. During the trip, Wordon and Kostenberger, along with a third unidentified person, were filmed streaking through a fountain in downtown Baton Rouge.
The video found its way to the Internet and back to Landrum. Though the two skiers faces could not be clearly made out, she punished them by fining both with $500 fines.
John Wordon said following the streaking incident, Landrum forced the team to add her on Facebook so that she could monitor their accounts. That type of behavior, the Wordons said, will hurt ULM in recruiting in a sport widely known for its freeness.
“Zach is outgoing. He speaks his mind, and that’s why he can be the free skier that he is,” John Wordon said.
Zach Wordon said the strict rules enforced on the team are already hurting the team’s recruiting.
“People in the water ski world want to go to college to have fun, but when they see this they say ‘I guess I’ll be going to Lafayette then,’” Zach Wordon said.
UL-Lafayette and ULM typically finish one and two in the nation. UL-Lafayette won the title last season, and Landrum made the team leave the bars following the competition at 11 p.m.
“People are starting to shy away, saying maybe I don’t want to go to ULM if I have to go under these strict rules,” Zach Wordon said. “We already look like poor sports last year for leaving [the celebration] early. In the ski world, it gives ULM a bad rep for sportsmanship.”
Both Wordons and Kostenberger agree there should be some penalty if they violated team rules, but they feel the punishment was unbefitting the crime. They said a suspension from a meet would be more appropriate than outright dismissal.
The two have an opportunity to be re-instated following a review at the end of the spring semester. The skiers said they were used to win a national championship, but now will not be paid a scholarship during the time they will not be skiing.
“She won’t pay Zach in the spring, but she’ll ride him to a national championship? Come on,” John Wordon said.
Landrum refused to comment on the issue. She referred to Laura Woodard in University Relations for comment on the issue. Woodard did not respond with a statement by press time.
