Student shredders show their mettle

RICK FIGNETTI

The 2004 Interscholastic State Surfing Championships were hosted by

the National Scholastic Surfing Assn. over the weekend down at

Church’s Beach in San Clemente. There was a small combo swell running

2 to 3 feet with some bigger sets -- with rights and occasional lefts

too.

The local high school and five-time defending national champ San

Clemente Tritons were unstoppable, taking all divisions with the

highest point total ever for a high school state meet, with 177. Not

only did their first, Red team win, but the Black team finished

second with 95 points, followed by San Dieguito with 81. The

Huntington Beach High School team rounded out the top four spots with

78 points.

San Clemente took the top two places in men’s, with Jason Miller

winning it and teammate Patrick Gudauskas second. Surf City’s Ian

Ekberg placed fifth with some nice rides for Huntington High in that

final. Colleen Mehlberg won her second state title for San Clemente

in the women’s division, with Edison’s Carly Myers finishing fourth

overall.

Longboard was won by Troy Mothershead of San Clemente, who had

some nice, long rides. In body boarding, San Clemente’s Charles

Marabella took the win with Edison’s Kris Espinoza getting second in

a close one.

Other high school placings included Carlsbad taking fifth,

Edison’s Green team seventh, Huntington’s B team 13th, Edison’s Gold

team 16th and Marina High School 18th.

In the middle school division, San Clemente’s Bernice Ayer won its

second state title, topping the charts with 101 points. Huntington’s

Dwyer put up a tough match, though, finishing second with 82 points.

In the boys’ division, Chase Brady from Bernice Ayer took the win,

with Sowers’ Eddie Elles second and Dwyer’s Alex Gullett placing

sixth. In girls’, Shorecliffs’ Lexie Papilion got the victory,

Dwyer’s Sarah Taylor was fifth, and rounding out the top six was

Sowers’ Lauren O’Conner. Shorecliffs’ Christian Wach was pulling the

big scores in longboarding for the win, while Dwyer’s Anthony Vidal

came in sixth.

In body boarding, the win went to Shorecliffs’ Grady Joseph, with

Sowers’ Derek Faas in fourth. Other middle schools that placed were

Dwyer’s B team in fifth, Sowers’ A team sixth, Talbert 10th and

Sowers’ B team in 11th.

In college action, we saw a big upset, as defending champ Mira

Costa didn’t win any events in the regular season but still ended up

on top in state overall points, with 135. Second was UC Santa Barbara

with 91 points, followed by the national champion UC San Diego with

90, and Cal State Long Beach with 76 points.

In men’s, Mira Costa racked up some big points with Adam Instone

winning it. In the women’s final, Erin Reitow from the University of

San Diego had the moves for the victory, while Cal State Long Beach’s

Darlene Conolly placed fourth. In longboarding, doing some fancy

footwork was Brenden Castile of UCSB, who took first, with Cal State

Long Beach’s Justin Hugron hot on his heels, placing second. And in

body boarding, Cal State Long Beach had two finalists, with Yusuke

Shibata winning and Justin Rodriguez coming in fourth.

That wraps up the state meet. These teams will have another go at

it at the nationals in the end of June at Lowers.

I hope the swell’s up then, see ya. Fig over and out.

* RICK FIGNETTI is an eight-time West Coast champion, has

announced the U.S. Open of Surfing the last nine years and has been

the KROQ-FM surfologist for the last 17 years, doing morning surf

reports. He owns a surf shop on Main Street. You can reach him at

(714) 536-1058.