Joe Surf: Huntington Beach High claims first national surfing title in 18 years

If it seems like a lifetime ago since Huntington Beach High School won a national surfing title, it’s because it has been a lifetime.

Fortunately for those close to the program, the “lifetime” we’re talking about is the lifetime of a high school student.

Before the HBHS surfers headed to Salt Creek in Dana Point last weekend to compete in the National Scholastic Surfing Assn. (NSSA) national championships, it had been 18 years since the school won the national crown. I don’t know if any of the team’s surfers had even been born yet the last time the school won it all.

But the national title drought, such as it was, is over.

The HBHS surf team edged out San Clemente High to win the prestigious NSSA national championships over the weekend, its first since 1998 and the 18th in the team’s 49-year history.

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“I’m getting inundated with phone calls and texts from people like Brett Simpson and Peter Townend, a barrage of congrats from alumni and coaches, and it’s pretty exciting,” Huntington surf coach Andy Verdone said. “Last year we came in third and lost by six points, so we knew we’d be in position this year to compete for the title.”

Despite winning the whole thing, only one Huntington surfer won an individual national title. That was Kristina Hehl, who won the girls’ JV crown.

“She not only won it, she combo’ed the field,” Verdone said. “It started the avalanche. It was intense. San Clemente’s down the beach under their tent, and we’re down there in our position on the sand. And I’ll give Kristina a lot of credit, because they run the JV finals before the varsity finals, and you ‘chair’ [carry on shoulders] the winner off the beach. And after Kristina got chaired, everyone was saying ‘I want to get chaired.’ ”

No other Huntington surfer got chaired, but so many got close enough, it was the difference in winning the title — Huntington finished with 132 total team points, ahead of second-place San Clemente’s 124.

Griffin Foy and Jacob Baker each reached the final heat in boys’ shortboard, Jeremy Guilmette reached the final heat in the boys’ longboard, and Samantha Cendro and Chiasa Maruyama reached the final heat in the girls’ shortboard.

“Although they didn’t win it, they helped the team win it,” Verdone said. “It makes me proud to get that many finalists. That’s what wins championships, you consistently advance in your heats.”

Brad Monroe, Sammy Harju and Ryan Salazar reached the quarterfinals and John West reached the second round in the boys’ shortboard, each helping Huntington score vital points in the overall scoring.

“We had a strong performance by everyone on the varsity,” Verdone said. “The key is the very first round. If everyone gets through, you have a shot, and that’s what happened to us. From John West up to Jacob Baker, everyone advanced.

“So there was a big buzz on the beach, where everyone’s excited for each other and they’re complimenting each other, giving out little tips — where are the waves breaking, the ever-changing tide is producing a different breaking point, don’t cut back too much on the inside section because you’ll lose the speed of the wave, and what the judges are looking for. It’s just a team win, overall a very exciting day.

“People make a big deal about it because it’s the first one since ‘98, but we’ve been in the trophy round every year. We’re doing exactly the same thing every year, but that’s how difficult it is to win a national championship.”

No skateboarding allowed

Guilmette reached the boys’ longboard final and finished in second place, just missing out on his third national longboard title. But he almost missed the contest completely, spraining his ankle while skateboarding a week earlier.

“Jeremy was the MVP of the Sunset League because he shortboards with the same power of his longboarding ability,” Verdone said. “He was supposed to shortboard on Saturday, but due to a typical surfer injury… these kids, they skateboard a week before the contest, and he sprained his ankle.”

Guilmette couldn’t ride his shortboard because the injury was to his back (pivot) foot, and Verdone and assistant coach Brett Barnes decided to bump up JV surfer Monroe into Guilmette’s varsity spot. A good move, considering Monroe reached the quarters.

“Meanwhile Jeremy iced his foot all night in the chance he could still longboard on Sunday,” Verdone said. “He came down last minute and we checked him out in the ocean and watched him for an hour, and we said yeah, he’s good to go.

“Jeremy Guilmette at 50 percent is still 100 percent better than most longboarders. He’s just incredibly talented. His first heat, he hung 10 three times and completely devastated the field and powered his way into the final.”

Keeping up with Kanoa

The waves in Fiji went flat for the entire week last week (sound familiar?), putting the World Surf League’s Fiji Pro, the fifth contest on the World Championship Tour, on hold.

Huntington’s Kanoa Igarashi has been waiting patiently for his Round 3 matchup against Michael Bourez of Tahiti. They were expecting a swell by Tuesday of this week.

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JOE HAAKENSON is a Huntington Beach-based sports writer and editor. He may be reached at joe@juvecreative.com.