By Jake Howard
The fall season for high school surfing is ending, and as might be expected, San Clemente High just put in a dominant performance at the league individual championships last week.
Sweeping the day, the Tritons’ Taylor Stacy won the women’s shortboard, Carolyn Sachse won the women’s longboard, Aidan Sautner took the men’s longboard, and it was Benjamin Brantell earning the victory in the highly competitive men’s shortboard division.
Brantell has a long history of showing up in the pages of this paper. He first got ink back in 2014, when he was an 8-year-old, after winning the Doheny Longboard Surfing Association’s 18th annual Menehune Surfing Contest.
From the Positive Vibe Warriors’ Stoke-O-Rama to NSSA and high school wins, he’s periodically appeared as Grom of the Week since those early days.
And now, with his latest victory, Brantell adds his name to a trophy that was previously hoisted by some of the area’s most iconic performers, including a trio of Gudauskas boys, a couple of Beschens, and a McPhillips or two, just to name a few.
Congrats to Brantell and all the other San Clemente High surfers who were, in the immortal words of The Beach Boys, “true to their school.”
If you have a candidate for Grom of the Week, we want to know. Send an email to jakehoward1@gmail.com.
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