Jay Miller, who placed third in the wakeboarding competition May 7, hits a backflip in Barr pool on SMU campus. (Brett Davis / The Daily Campus)

While most SMU students tucked away into libraries in preparation for finals yesterday, several took a study break and went to Barr

Pool to lay back, soak up some sun, and watch the SMU wakeboarding team do some “sick” tricks.

Nine wakeboarders competed in a best trick competition, judged by professional wake boarders Cody Johnson and John Deere. First-year Dylan French placed first, Adam Gibbons came in second and Jay Miller placed third.

Wakeboarding in a swimming pool was made possible by sponsors Red Bull and Hydrous Wake Park who anchored a ramp in the center of the pool.

The wake boarder sat on the end of the pool holding onto a rope and on the other end of the pool was a motor and winch attached to the same rope. When the competitor was ready, the motor would turn on winding up the rope, launching the boarder down the pool, up to the ramp and into a jump.

Students watched as the team did “tantrums” and “scarecrows,” wakeboarding terminology for combining flips and spins.

“We want to see whoever can go the biggest and has the best ‘stees’ [style and skill],” Deere said.

Each member of the team had two runs to impress the judges. The judges selected four of those boarders, who each had two more runs to determine the victor. The judges ranked the jumps on a one to 10 scale, and offered the team some advice after jumps to help improve their skills.

“It was so sick,” said sophomore Paul Vineis after the event. “I wish they did this more often.”

Sophomore Trevor Anderson and junior Casey Jones organized and put together the event.

“We want to have fun and spread wakeboarding to people who wouldn’t normally see it,” Anderson said.

The team has been in existence for five years and has consisted of around eight to 10 members per year. This is the second event the team has brought to SMU.

Both times, the event has been sponsored by Hydrous Wake Park from Allen, Texas. Hydrous gave out prizes of a new wakeboard and a month free membership to their water park. Dylan French walked home with the prizes.

“My last trick was called ‘flashing air’,” French said. “I figured that the judges had seen everything else, so [I did] something fun and different.”

French says that he’s wakeboarded for four years, but his love of outdoor water sports started when he first slalom skied at the young age of four. As he held onto his new board, he was nothing but smiles.