Scoring Big: South County Surfers Dominate USA Surfing Championships

By Jake Howard

Last week, Crosby Colapinto won the Los Cabos Open Pro Junior, but apparently that wasn’t enough. Upon returning home to San Clemente, he jumped straight into the USA Surfing Championships at Lower Trestles and earned himself the title of under 18 U.S. national champion.

To say Colapinto is going places might be an understatement, considering his older brother, Griffin, is currently a strong candidate for Rookie of the Year on the WSL’s Championship Tour. But he’s hardly the only kid from town shaking things up. Out of the eight divisions in the USA Surfing Championships, San Clemente surfers won four of them. Jett Schilling, who joined Colapinto in the final of the Los Cabos Open Pro Junior, won the under 16 title, beating friend Kade Matson in the final. Schilling also finished runner-up in the under 18 division.

Samantha Sibley squeaked out a win in the under 16 division, locking in an impressive 9.57 at the end of the final to come away with the win. Posting a perfect 10 earlier in the competition, like Schilling, she also made an appearance in the under 18 final.

“Our athletes brought excellence today,” said USA Surfing head coach Joey Buran. “The performances reflect months of preparation, hard work, sacrifice and honing mental heat management. It all builds, progresses and hopefully peaks at the right time, and for some it certainly did.”

USA Surfing Championships Results:

Girls U12

Oaka Wong, Hawaii

Boys U12

Cannon Carr, San Clemente

Girls U14

Luana Silva, Hawaii

Boys U14

Levi Young, Hawaii

Girls U16

Samantha Sibley, San Clemente

Boys U16

Jett Schilling, San Clemente

Girls U18

Luana Silva, Hawaii

Boys U18

Crosby Colapinto, San Clemente

Local Qualifiers for USA Surfing Junior National Team

 Boys Under 18

Crosby Colapinto, San Clemente

Kade Matson, San Clemente

Girls Under 18

Kirra Pinkerton, San Clemente

Samantha Sibley, San Clemente

Boys Under 16

Nico Coli, San Clemente

Taj Lindblad, San Clemente

Jett Schilling, San Clemente

Girls Under 16

Ryan Daley, Dana Point

Sawyer Lindblad, San Clemente

Local Qualifiers for U.S. Surfing Developmental Team  

Boys

Cannon Carr, San Clemente
Dane Matson, San Clemente

Hayden Rodgers, San Clemente

Luke Wyler, San Clemente

Girls

Cascia Collings, Dana Point

Julia Guild, San Clemente