It was a year of great waves and accolades for Southern California surfers who were hoisted up in victory on foreign sands and cheered on by hometown crowds at surf contests in their backyard.
Here are some of 2019’s most notable surf success stories:
Olympians named
Surfing will be taken to a global stage next year as it heads into the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo and already surf fans are excited about the local athletes who were named to compete in its debut.
San Clemente’s Kolohe Andino, a 25-year-old who has been in the surf spotlight since he was a kid, was the first to be announced for the USA Surfing Team.
As an amateur athlete, he shattered records for the most men’s titles in the National Scholastic Surfing Association and joined the ranks of the world’s best surfers in 2012. Now a veteran on tour, his fifth-place ranking on the World Tour landed him the coveted spot on the Olympic team, joined by friend and fierce Hawaiian competitor John John Florence.
On the women’s team, San Clemente transplant Caroline Marks, a Florida surfer who moved here with her family a few years ago, will represent the U.S., along with Hawaiian Carissa Moore. Marks had a stellar finish on the World Tour, coming in second behind Moore, who earned the World Title.
Huntington Beach surfer Kanoa Igarashi, who won two US Open of Surfing titles in his hometown, in 2017 and 2018, will give local surf fans someone else to root for when he competes for the host country, his family’s native Japan.
Another highlight for Igarashi came early in the year when he bested 11-time world champion Kelly Slater to earn his first-ever World Title victory in Bali, at the Corona Bali Protected.
Going gold
Young local surfers got their hands on gold this year at home and abroad, at contests with similar team-style formats to the Olympics.
The USA junior surf team topped 43 nations in early November to earn gold at the VISSLA ISA World Junior Championships in Huntington Beach, led by newly named coach Brett Simpson, who shifted his career from competition to coaching.
Ventura surfer Dimitri Poulos took first place in the Boys Under-18 division to help his team earn the accolades.
A few weeks later, Laguna Beach teen Jade Howson earned gold at the 2019 Surf City El Salvador ISA World SUP and Paddleboard Competition, which drew 161 athletes from 27 countries in October to compete in Central America.
It was her second consecutive gold medal in the Junior SUP Technical race.
Southern California’s surfing future looks bright
Several up-and-coming surfers showed they are ones to watch, making their mark at junior pro, amateur and qualifying series events.
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San Clemente’s Kade Matson earned the prestigious junior men’s title at the US Open of Surfing in August, the biggest moment yet in his young surfing career. The victory helped propel him in the junior pro rankings, where he finished second at year’s end.
Fellow San Clemente teen Samantha Sibley made a splash at the Super Girl Surf Pro, the young surfer — just 17 at the time — taking out much more experienced competition at the Oceanside event. It was her first World Qualifying Series title, a QS 6,000, making her the youngest champion at the surf contest.
“This is the best day of my life,” she said in a news release following the competition in July. “I’ve been coming to this event ever since I was little, standing on this beach, taking pictures with all my heroes, and now to be the Super Girl . . . I’m at a loss for words.”
Two San Clemente surfers earned USA Surfing championship titles at Lower Trestles in June. Crosby Colapinto, younger brother of World Tour surfer Griffin Colapinto, earned a perfect 10 at the event to clinch the Under-18 title.
Up-and-comer Hayden Rodgers, also of San Clemente, clinched the Under-14 boys division in a buzzer-beater heat over Oceanside’s Lucas Owston. Rodgers, 13, recently suffered a major wipeout in Hawaii, but was released from the hospital and is at home recuperating.
San Clemente schools also swept national titles at the NSSA interscholastic championships at Salt Creek over the summer, winning the varsity and junior varsity high school titles. The city’s Shorecliffs Middle School also earned its 16th national title.
San Clemente High School had dominated the series since the late ’90s, earning more than a dozen titles. Kai McPhillips’ win in the varsity men’s division, and a third-place finish by Ethan Mudge, helped the team clinch the overall high school victory once more. The win marked McPhillips’ sixth national interscholastic title.
Kevin Skvarna, a San Juan Hills High grad who now attends Saddleback College, took first place in the college longboard division, his third consecutive title. Andrew Niemann earned a win for Point Loma Nazarene University in the college men’s division, a first for the surfer from Huntington Beach.
Long Beach surfer Nolan Rapoza celebrated his first Qualifying Series win in June at the Maui and Sons Arica Pro Tour in Chile.
Women surfers make their mark
Courtney Conlogue, of Santa Ana, had strong results early in the year, including a win in Australia at the Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach, in April, her third time winning the title. Conlogue, who won last year’s US Open of Surfing, nearly had a repeat at the Huntington Beach event but came in second behind longtime friend and rival Sage Erickson, of Ojai.
Santa Barbara’s Lakey Peterson came in third in the World Surf League rankings, also a stellar performance.
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