Friday afternoon’s celebration was a long-time coming for Sage ‘21. In front of a small group of family and Westover community members inside Westover’s Fuller Athletic Center, Sage officially signed a national letter of intent to compete on the Division I water ski team at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette in Layette, La. this coming fall.
"Growing up, water skiing has been a constant in my life that has become more and more important to me throughout the years, so being able to go to a school and be on a team, participating in the sport that I am so passionate about has always been a dream of mine," Sage said.
Sage, a senior from Morris, CT, is the first Westover student-athlete to sign at the Division I level for water skiing.
“We are very proud of Sage for committing to the University of Louisiana at Lafayette for water skiing,” said Sara Reid, Westover’s Associate Athletic Director. “She is a great ambassador for our school and has shown incredible athleticism and true dedication to the sport. At Westover we embrace different avenues of interest as well as unconventional paths and it is inspirational to see Sage take advantage of this with competitive water skiing."
When her fall season ended in November of 2020, Sage was ranked by USA WaterSki and Wake Sports U.S. No. 1 in the Girls 5 Division for the Jump event with an average score of 125, tied for third in the Slalom event, and fourth overall. Sage was globally ranked by WaterSkiersFoundation No. 4 in the World for the Jump event in the Under 17 (U17) Girls Division, with an average score of 38.10 meters. She finished No. 5 in Slalom with an average score of [email protected] meters, and was also top 12 overall.
"I cannot wait to finally be able to participate in the sport I am passionate about at a school and to be a part of a team, and the fact that I am going to be attending University of Louisiana at Lafayette— the school that is currently ranked 1st in the nation— to water ski D1 is the icing on the cake of my childhood dream," Sage said.
Beside competitively water skiing, in her three years at Westover, Sage was part of the cross country, swim and lacrosse teams. Sage plans to major in nursing.
"Westover has proven to me the importance of a strong community and how important a family-like network is, so I knew moving forward that this was the atmosphere I wanted to put myself in both athletically and academically," she said. "And not only does ULL have everything I am looking for in a Water Ski Team, but it has what I need in a school— a strong sense of community, small classes, and areas of study that interest me."
