Column: Joe Surf: HB comes oh so close to repeat

Five points. Five lousy points.

That was the difference between a second consecutive national championship for the Huntington Beach High School surf team, and second place.

San Clemente High’s 125 total points in the National Scholastic Surfing Assn. Interscholastic National Championships held recently at Salt Creek in Dana Point was enough to dethrone Huntington, which finished with 120 points.

Huntington won the title last year, edging San Clemente, for its 18th national championship and first since 1998. Coach Andy Verdone and his surfers were intent on making sure there wouldn’t be such a long layoff this time around.

And they were in position to get it, taking a small lead into the final day of competition. The difference was that San Clemente had more surfers reach a final heat — in either boys’ shortboard, girls’ shortboard, or longboard — than Huntington.

“We were up two points going into the final day, knowing full well that the final day is finals, and we had one surfer remaining and [San Clemente] had three,” Verdone said. “We just fell short as far as gaining finalists. We had a strong showing.

“Second place in the United States of America is not bad, but we’re always looking for the top spot. I came home and my wife put it in perspective. She said, ‘Well, it’s better than third.’”

There was also the issue of interference calls, and some non-calls. Some observers felt Huntington unfairly was called for interference, while other surfers were not called when they might have interfered with a Huntington surfer.

Verdone, though, wasn’t about to blame the judges.

“If you whine about stuff that’s part of the sport then you’re not really going to enjoy the long ride of a competitive surfer or coach,” Verdone said. “You can’t dwell on something like that. You really have to have a short memory and you have to move on.

“It’s much like a baseball player; you’re on the mound, you give up a home run and you’ve got to come back the next inning and battle. And we did battle. We came up against some really good teams from around the nation, from Hawaii, from Florida and of course California. San Clemente had a really good team.”

The one Huntington surfer to reach a final was sophomore Chiasa Maruyama, who placed fourth in girls’ shortboard. She also finished fourth in the nation last year as a freshman.

“I surf for my team and we won nationals last year, so I was really hoping to make that happen again for the seniors,” Maruyama said. “All the guys were surfing really well, they were ripping out there and all of a sudden in the quarterfinals and the repercharge something happened; weird interference calls and some interferences that should have been called but weren’t. It was really difficult, but second place is still pretty good. We have a lot of amazing surfers and next year we can make it happen.”

Griffin Foy and Ryan Salazar reached the semifinals for Huntington in boys’ shortboard, but Foy was eliminated and Salazar advanced to the repercharge. Salazar needed to nab a top-three spot in the repercharge to advance to the final, but came in fourth.

“He was one of the class surfers of the event,” Verdone said of the graduating Salazar. “He’s really developed himself over the years, coming up from Dwyer [Middle School] and surfing for Huntington, surfing all over the world. He’s a good kid and a good student.

“He is literally the smoothest surfer I’ve ever been around in my 30 years of coaching the surf team. He’s Tommy Curren, but goofy foot. He’s like dancing on a wave, doing a waltz, when everyone else is doing a jitterbug.”

Huntington did win one national title, though — sophomore Jovan Smith-Scott won the junior varsity longboard title. He almost didn’t get the chance, though, because he broke his collarbone on a fall while BMXing.

“We were all praying for Jovan’s return,” Verdone said. “He literally did not surf for a month and a half. It was tough, it was touch and go.”

But once Smith-Scott got in the water, it was no contest.

“Jovan practically combo’ed the field,” Verdone said. “He was so above the level of the others in the water. The varsity level was more powerful, which Jovan needs to add to his game. He’s still a young man, he needs to add a little muscle to his game and throw a little more power into his surfing.

“He’s like a cat when he’s on that board, he can walk it like a cat and he got to the nose quite a lot and the judges took one look and said he’s the class of the field.”

Final team standings: 1. San Clemente 125; 2. Huntington Beach 120; 3. Laguna Beach 102; 4. Dana Hills 90; 5. Cocoa Beach 85; 6. San Dieguito 71; 7. Mira Costa 55; 8. Edison 54; 9. Mid Pacific 50; 10. Kamehameha 49; 11. Manasquan 38; 12. Melbourne 36; 13. Satellite 33; 14. Newport Harbor 31; 14. Marina 29; 15. Redondo Union 25; 16. Rumson-Fair Haven 15.

Boys’ shortboard: 1. Danny Kenduck, Dana Hills 13.90; 2. Chase Modelski, Cocoa Beach 11.84; 3. Curran Dand, San Clemente 11.74; 4. Liam Murray, San Clemente 10.90; 5. Jackson Butler, San Dieguito 8.80; 6. Jake Levine, Laguna Beach 7.93.

Girls’ shortboard: 1. Caroline Marks, Cocoa Beach 15.73; 2. Bethany Zelasko, Dana Hills 12.77; 3. Tyrra Gallano, Kamehameha 8.47; 4. Chiasa Maruyama, Huntington Beach 8.00; 5. Kayla Coscino, Laguna Beach 6.77; 6. Kiersten Noonan, San Dieguito 6.00.

Longboard: 1. Trevor Anderberg, San Dieguito 19.27; 2. Andrew Neal, Mira Costa 16.44; 3. Ryan Conklin, Cocoa Beach 12.57; 4. Ethan Mudge, San Clemente 9.00 tiebreak; 5. Kenny Saundry, Melbourne 9.00 tiebreak; 6. Chase Adelsohn, Newport Harbor 6.80.

DIGITAL SURF CONTEST

Trace, a small sensor that attaches directly to your board and tracks activity while surfing, is launching the Trace Summer Surf Series, a series of digitally tracked surf contests.

There will be three contests this summer — one in July, August and September, as well as an overall final rankings — with judging based on six categories, including total number of waves, longest wave, total ride distance, sharpest turn, max speed, and number of turns. Competitors can surf as much as they want and anywhere they want, they just must be a U.S. resident.

Cash prizes will be awarded. Participation is free, you just need a Trace device and attach it to your board. To sign up, send an email to [email protected]and include your Trace profile name and you’ll be signed up.

JOE HAAKENSON is a Huntington Beach-based sports writer and editor. He may be reached at [email protected].