CRUSHED IT AT ZUMA TO CLOSE THE SEASON!!!

Zuma HS Contest #4 2023-04-22, Recap from Coach John:

We had many great results at the final High School Regular Season contest at Zuma beach on Saturday, April 22, and I congratulate all of our Sharks for their efforts and their results.

But I must highlight that we witnessed one of the most spectacular finishes of any Shark I've ever witnessed.  And when I say "finishes", i mean it literally.  Vanessa Clarke HAD to beat Lilly Gilholm of Ventura to win the LA-SB-Division Womens Shortboard Title in her final Senior Year competition.  Vanessa was leading the ratings by only 64 points (4260 v 4196!!) going into this contest and she wasn't even sure she would compete.  She not only put other obligations aside to compete with the Sharks, she WON THE EVENT AND TOOK THE TITLE!!!  But it wasn't easy!  In the second round Vanessa and Lilly were head to head with 4 other girls; only 3 would advance.  If either girl got 4th or lower they were out, the other would take the title!!  Vanessa did not surf her best heat, she came in frustrated, feeling defeated.  The results came in, Lilly got 2nd, but Vanessa got 3rd!! The race continued into the Final.  The waves in the Final were HORRIBLE, all the girls were going straight on close outs.  Lilly got lots of waves but nothing special.  Vanessa was patient, she got a decent turn in the middle of the heat but then nothing.  And nothing. And nothing. And then....with ONE MINUTE LEFT...Vanessa takes off on a wave that looked like every other wave...it looked like crap!  BUT!!!!  But a little rip current held it up, formed a section, Vanessa saw it and attacked it, carved a turn like no other in the entire heat, and came down into the breaking whitewater, which was basically on dry sand, and she held on to ride out and complete the maneuver!!!!!!!  The beach went WILD!!  Vanessa's dad, Steve, yelled "THAT'S MY DAUGHTER!!!" and ran around pumping his fists!!  It took a while for the results to come in and to be announced, but we all knew.  Every Shark knew... Vanessa won her senior year, last high school contest to take the Division Title.

CONGRATULATIONS VANESSA!!!

And CONGRATULATIONS to all our other Finalists for ending the season in strong form!!  GO SHARKS!

LA-Ventura High School Division

Sunday  October 16, 2022   Emma Wood - 7 Finalists, 8 Medals!

Sunday  November 6, 2022  Zuma - CANCELLED (New Date 2023-02-26)

Sunday  December 11, 2022  Ventura Fairgrounds - CANCELLED (New Date 2023-02-04)

Sunday  January 8, 2023   Carpinteria - 5 Finalists, 5 Medals!

SATURDAY  February 4, 2023  Carpinteria (Ventura Make-Up) - 4 Finalists, 5 Medals!

Sunday February 26, 2023   Zuma (Zuma make-up, CANCELLED, No Makeup)

SATURDAY March 11, 2023   Ventura Fairgrounds - RESCHEDULED

SATURDAY April 22, 2023   ZUMA!! 6 Finalists, 6 Medals! Vanessa clinched the Womens Shortboard Title!

STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS - March 25th @ Oceanside Harbor - No Finalists

Latest info is available here:

https://surfsss.org/2022-23-contest-schedule-results/ 

HIGH SCHOOL STATE CHAMPIONSHIP CONTEST RECAP FROM COACH JOHN (2023-03-26)

Well Sharks, we knew it wouldn't be easy.  I'm extremely proud of the effort all of our surfers put into their heats, especially knowing we were the underdogs.  The small, shifty weak, low tide conditions didn't help us either, but it's hard to blame the conditions when the other teams were absolutely shredding!  In the end, we didn't end up in any Finals, heck we only had one surfer get a 3rd place (Vanessa in Womens Longboard)!  The other teams were so well organized and their skill levels were simply way beyond ours.  I heard one person describe the Mens Shortboard heats against San Clemente as "they have 9 Caueh's, but we only have one!"  We also all got a dose of what true "teamwork" in a heat looks like - the other teams were masters at working together to block us out and find the best waves for themselves.

We did have one bright moment when Leon and Sean squeaked past Laguna in the first round of Bodyboard, but alas in the second round the other team did el rollos and open face 360s and one kid even got a really nice deep barrel.  Ooooff!

The last thing I want to share is this: While we have great surfers on our Team, there is a limited number of us who take these contests as seriously as these other schools.  A big factor is the available talent pool!!  Malibu has a population of ~13,000.  San Clemente has ~65,000, and almost 6-to-1 ratio of talent to choose from (i.e., for every Caueh we have, they have at least 6!).  San Dieguito has a population of over 100,000, that's a 10-to-1 ratio!!  Carlsbad has a population of ~32,000, almost 3 times the amount of potential talent.  Dana Hills High School has 2,200 students compared to MHS with less than 500! Laguna is the closest town to our size with ~23,000 people, and that town is KNOWN for it's bodyboarding - our greatest achievement of the weekend was beating them!

Finally, i just want to say thank you to Kaya for helping run things for the event, all the parents who made the trip for a 15 minute chance to move on, and of course, to all our High School Sharks!!  

Keep up the practice and let's try hard to do better next year!!

GO SHARKS!!!!

Final Results:

Mens Shortboard vs San Clemente - LOST

Mens Longboard vs Dana Hills - LOST

Womens Shortboard vs San Dieguito - LOST

Womens Longboard vs Carlsbad - LOST

Coed Bodyboard vs Laguna Beach - WIN!!!!!!

Coed Bodyboard vs San Dieguito (Round Two) - LOST