Laguna Beach High School’s women’s shortboard team won the crown as team champion at the Scholastic Surf Series high school state championship Saturday, April 21 in Oceanside.
Under light winds and four-foot surf, 14 high school teams competed, with many LBHS students doing double duty in two divisions.
The women’s team of Tess Booth, Kalohe Danbara and Kelly Smith defeated Half
Moon Bay, 13 -7; Carlsbad, 12-9; Edison, 15-6, in the semi-final; and Santa Barbara, 14-7, in the final.
MVP went to freshman Tess Booth, who besides competing in shortboard, also competed in one longboard heat as well. Tess and her team mates on longboard, Maya Takayabashi and Destiny Thompson, competed well against La Costa Canyon, but did not advance, losing 13-8.
Travis Booth, Sam Nelsen, Kiko Nelsen and Liam McCue competed in men’s shortboard. Also in the mix was Joseph Schenk, Luke Hagopian, Ryan McGee, Luca Elghanaya and Lucas Jablon. The team narrowly missed advancing, losing 33-32.
Travis Booth and Ryan McGee stepped up doing double duty in bodyboard. They won their first round against Oceanside and lost to Dana Hills.
Longboard also saw double duty and a solid effort by Sam Nelsen who took a second. Joseph Schenk and Luke Hagopian surfed well, but lost to La Costa Canyon 12-9.
By coaches Alisa Cairns and Scott Finn
