Interscholastic Surfing State Championships
by Paul Costales

With the last of the NSSA interscholastic surf contests (college, high school, and junior high), as well as the State Championships being held a few weeks ago, we'll wrap up the results.

UCSB has been having a tough go of it this year, at least compared to last year, when they were National Champs. Their best result before heading down to the State Championships was in Huntington Beach, where the A team placed 3rd, the B Team placed 6th, and the C Team placed 10th. A surprise showing by C Team surfer, Terence Alemann, who placed 1st overall in the Mens' Division made up for losses by higher-rated UCSB surfers. The UCSB Women have been holding the team up all year, with Lipoa Kahaleuahi yet again taking 1st. UCSB was ranked 6th heading into the College State Championships.

College State Championships were held March 6th, and UCSB came away with a 4th place showing, but still holding onto hope for a National Championship. We'll let team captain, Joe Riggio deliver the lowdown:

We didn't surf up to our potential, but we did get 4th out of 20 teams which is promising going towards Nationals. Two of our A team short boarders had shockers in the first round, which hurt us, and the rest of us lost out by the 3rd round. Lipoa was, of course, a bright spot for our team. She won every heat going into the finals, but ended up getting 3rd, which is still great. But she is truly the one to beat in the Womens' Division and is looking forward to taking the national title this June. Paul Steinberg surfed great all contest and finished 2nd in the Longboard division. We definitely have a chance at winning Nationals if we surf up to our potential.

Carpinteria High and Carpinteria Jr. High sent teams down to the State Championships as well. Carp High placed 8th, and Carp Jr. High placed 9th in their divisions. Not as many big names showed up in the standing for States, so perhaps we'll see them at Nationals. College, High School and Jr. High Nationals will both be held starting June 17 in Dana Point.

As far as the Individual Divisions go, Gold Coast Explorer held their 10th and last contest of the season last weekend in Pismo Beach. The Southwest Open and Southwest Explorer each have on more contest to run. After those are run, the West Coast Championships are run in mid-May, and we'll have the 411 right here.

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