Awesome! - That’s the Only Way to Describe Dana Hills Surf Team’s Record

The Dana Hills High School surf team, by its members’ own measure, has been pretty awesome since 1974, the year the Dana Point school opened its doors and its surf program began.

But this past spring, the surfing Dolphins “totally shredded,” taking first place in the California Interscholastic Surfing Federation’s state championships at Oceanside.

“Last year’s team was the best group of surfers in Dana Hills’ history,” said Junji Nakamura, surf team coach and surf club adviser since 1977 and a special education teacher at the school.

Three of the surfers who graduated--Pat O’Connell, Kasey Curtis and Matt Coleman--have since started on the professional circuit, becoming members of the Professional Surfing Assn. of America. O’Connell and Curtis were also selected for the U.S. National team, which competes for world amateur titles.

CISF was founded in 1982 by the Dana Hills and San Clemente high school surf teams. Each believed a playoff system was needed for surfing, but the California Interscholastic Federation, the governing board of high school athletics, would not recognize surfing as a competitive sport.

CISF now includes 10 beach city schools in its 4-A division and 16 schools located five miles or more from the water in the 3-A division. Dana Hills will defend its 4-A title at the next state championship, Feb. 24-25 at Oceanside.

“We lost a couple of valuable surfers (to graduation),” said Chad Godett, a four-year member of the team. “But we still have a chance of repeating our win at the state championships.”

Last spring, O’Connell finished second and Curtis fifth to lead Dana Hills to the state championship. In the 1988 CISF finals, Dana Hills finished third, up from its fifth-place finish the year before.

“This year’s team will be hard-pressed to match last year’s accomplishments, but we’re going to try,” Nakamura said. “Our team is young and inexperienced but very competitive.”

Though all 34 members play important roles at Dana Hills, a number of upperclassmen have made outstanding contributions.

Senior Tim Reardon, a returning letterman, “makes the most radical maneuvers and is probably the best in the South Coast League,” Nakamura said.

Heather Meade is another four-year letterman. She was voted the South Coast League’s most valuable girl surfer last season. “I love the team because it gives me so many opportunities,” Meade said. “I have the chance to compete, to get noticed by sponsors and to win scholarships.”

Godett, who was voted Dana Hills’ most improved surfer last season, and junior Cian eZaricki have been on the first team for the last two years.

“We’re getting some pretty good surfers this year,” Zaricki said, “but they just don’t have the talent of those in the past. They’re very worthy of the team, though.”

To ready itself for the CISF championships, the team competes in the South Coast League, which was formed in 1977 by Dana Hills, Capistrano Valley, Laguna Beach and San Clemente high schools--all members of the Southern Section’s South Coast League.

“It’s the strongest surf league in California,” Nakamura said.

At each competition, 15 boys and three girls represent a school. Three surfers compete in one of six different 15-minute heats, and each competitor is judged according to his or her performance on the four best waves.

Dana Hills has also participated in the National Scholastic Surfing Assn.’s national championships. This past summer, the Dolphins finished second to Huntington Beach High in the latest national competition.

Nakamura said, however, that his team will not participate in any more NSSA meets because of the expense involved and because he and his team members were unhappy with the officiating at August’s national competition.

Becoming and staying a member of the Dana Hills team takes skill both in and out of the water. Members must maintain a 2.0 grade-point average. In his 12 years as coach, Nakamura said he has never had a team’s cumulative GPA drop below 2.7. This year’s team comes in at 2.85--2.7 for the boys and 3.0 for the girls.

Nakamura said he also keeps close tabs on each member’s citizenship marks.

“The surf team is very competitive, but we do not forget that everyone is a student first,” Nakamura said. “Dana Hills has never had a surfer drop out of high school. Over the past years, the surf club has awarded several $100 scholarships for grades and achievement.

“We, as a team, like the competitive spirit, but we never lose sight of the best part of surfing--the fun part.”

And the winning part.