2018 High School State Team Championships

Coach Alisa Cairns, Kalohe Danbara, Tess Booth and Kelly Smith

LBHS Women’s Short Board Surf Team Win High School State Team Championships, Booth, Danbara and Smith Lead The Way

Yesterday Laguna Beach High School Surf Team had a record day with The Women’s Shortboard Team crowned Team Champion at the Scholastic Surf Series High School State Championships. The event was held at Oceanside South Jetty and it was a nice day. The surf was a little tricky, but decent in the 3-4ft surf range with light winds. Laguna Beach High School surfed in the Team competition of the contest in all 14 High Schools were competing in the various divisions. Everyone worked really hard with some doing double duty in two divisions.

Our Women’s Team as a whole has been so strong the last couple of years in the various events with plenty of depth and consistency. Saturdays team of Tess Booth, Kalohe Danbara and Kelly Smith worked really well together, each doing their part to take the team all the way to the end with the major Win and really solid performances along the way. In the first round Laguna was up against Half Moon Bay and they Won 13 -7. Next they surfed against Carlsbad with a 12-9 Win. The Semi-Finals was a break through performance for all three and they easily defeated Edison 15-6. The Women were on a roll and went into the Final against Santa Barbara beaming with confidence and took another decisive Win 14-7. MVP would have to go to Freshman Tess Booth who was the iron woman, winning most of her 5 heats of the day. She not only competed well in the Shortboard, but also put in a solid performance in Longboard. Tess and her team mates Maya Takayabashi and Destiny Thompson competed well against La Costa Canyon, but did not advance missing out 8-13.

The Mens Shortboard started the day first up against Coronado High school. Our guys surfed really hard and competed well with some outstanding performances and top finishes put in by the likes of Travis Booth, Sam Nelsen, Kiko Nelsen and Liam McCue. Meanwhile Joseph Schenk, Luke Hagopian, Ryan McGee, Luca Elghanaya and Lucas Jablon also gave their all. Unfortunately the team narrowly missed out from advancement, losing by a meager 1 point 32-33 points.

In Bodyboard Travis Booth and Ryan McGee stepped up big time doing double duty, while ripping and having a good time along the way. They won their first round against Oceanside and narrowly lost to Dana Hills. Longboard also saw double duty and a solid effort put in by Sam Nelsen who took a 2nd, Joseph Schenk and Luke Hagopian also surfed well, but unfortunately were edged out by La Costa Canyon 9-12.

Thank you to all the Parents, friends and team members who came down and supported us. A special thank you also goes out to Ellen and Chad Nelsen and Jeff Booth for helping out with the tent, providing food, action photos, good cheer, advice and a great vibe.

Kelly Smith and Liam McCue have also entered Individuals on Monday and we wish them luck!

From your Coaches Alisa Cairns and Scott Finn