Courtesy Hoofprints
By Rebecca Hext
Staff Writer
Every morning while most students are still asleep, the Mira Costa boys surf team is hard at work in the surf in an effort to maintain its perfect record.
The boys surf team thrived this year, finishing with a Bay League championship and undefeated record.
“We are very pleased with the overall team growth this year,” coach Tracey Geller said. “A combination of gaining strength, which makes moves look more fluid and powerful, and gaining competitive experience helped us grow this year.”
Although the boys finished undefeated, getting there was not an easy task. The boys’ biggest competition, Palos Verdes, put up a good fight on Dec. 15, but Costa’s boys were able to step up and pull out a win in the team’s closest game of the season, with a score of 94-73.
“They had a couple of good individual surfers but lacked the depth to make them solid,” Geller said.
The boys also beat El Segundo 106-55 on Jan. 5, Redondo 96-70 on Dec. 16, and South Torrance 107- 60 on Nov. 15 during the season.
“It was a good season being undefeated,” senior Max Roseman said. “Everyone surfed really well and stepped up when we needed them to.”
The team, led by senior captains Payne English and Wyatt Boyd, featured many shining stars this season. Freshman prodigy Noah Collins impressed English, Boyd, and Roseman and represents a strong future for the team. The official MVP of the season will be decided by a team vote at its upcoming banquet.
“Payne has been surfing well and having great contest results,” Geller said. “Boyd can carve a turn with the best of them, and he can take to the air as well, leaving a mark on this team as a whole.”
The team was allowed to enter 10 surfers in the short board preliminaries for All Stars against schools from all over the state of California, which is the equivalent of CIF playoffs for other sports. They advanced nine boys to the semifinals. They were allowed to enter three long boarders and three body boarders for males and three long boarders and three short boarders for females into preliminaries, and all of them advanced to the semifinals.
“The seasoned competitors did their job delivering big performances when the pressure was on them to do so,” Geller said. “The younger or newer competitors were able to contribute the back up places needed to combine for heat wins.”
The boys are hoping to keep the title of Bay League Champions next season. The team has a history of strong turn over from season to season. Each year, a new group of surfers is able to fill the gaps left by graduating seniors.
“There’s definitely a lot to live up to, but we’re relying on the younger kids to help push us through as individual surfers,” English said.
