Pro Surfer Billy, Huntington Beach’s Wagschal Win Title

Professional surfer Chris Billy of Laguna Niguel teamed with 16-year old Collin Wagschal of Huntington Beach to win the team challenge at the Quiksilver Gen-X Challenge, an amateur surfing event Sunday afternoon at Newport Beach.

The finalists in the four divisions--menehune’s (age 11 and younger), grommet’s (12-14), juniors’ (15-17) and men’s (18 and older)--each drew a name of one of the 16 invited professional surfers for the team challenge, contest director Darren Brilhart said.

Pro surfer Kelly Slater of Coco Beach, Fla., and 10-year-old Ryan Turner of Huntington Beach finished second in the team challenge, and pro Scott Farnsworth of Huntington Beach and 13-year old Natt Cameron of Seal Beach placed third.

In the individual competitions, 11-year-old Andreas Xagorarakis of Newport Beach, 13-year-old Kadn Aisantro of Huntington Beach, 17-year-old Rob Machado of Encinitas and C.C. Bechtloff of Huntington Beach (men’s open) won their divisions.

Other divisional winners were Lloyd Tice of Huntington Beach in the long board and Emiko Hoshino of Japan in the women’s open.