For the third year in a row the SJHHS surf team won the 2015 Scholastic Surf Series High School State State Championships, winning boys and girls longboard and bodyboard, three of the five needed to clinch the title.

“We all worked really hard, we all wanted it really bad, and we all love it,” said Lily Benjamin (9) about the team.
Kolton Sullivan credits team strength to the fact that “we’re all good buds, we all surf outside of team practice.” Not only do all the members work well together, but they practice in conditions that are less than ideal.

San Juan Hills competes in Division B for “inland” schools, while San Clemente high school competes in division A. Both teams won their divisions. But the strength of San Juan Hills surf team in Division B makes some wonder if they should be moved into Division A. 

“Haha. A Lot of people would like that! We can hang in a few divisions. In fact, we’ve beaten SC and Dana in Longboard (boys and girls) but we’re just not deep enough in shortboard,” said coach Roberts.

The surfing conditions at the event were less than ideal on Sunday. But it’s what Coach Roberts prepares his team for, so they were able to adjust quickly and well. This technique prepares them to surf well in any conditions, giving them an advantage over other teams.

“It was super windy, super blown out, and super choppy,” said Jack Benjamin (10) but they made the most of it.
In the beginning of the contest “it was pretty decent, and glassier” but turned choppy by the end of the day, according to for Lily Benjamin (9). During the individual heats, Meg Roh (10) said it was “kind of windy, and pretty small.”
Walker Carvalho (11) despite the waves not being “very good, we surfed to our best abilities.”

On the other hand, Jack Benjamin (10) felt that since these conditions are what the team practices in “we kind of kill it” at competitions with similar conditions.

On three-peating, Sullivan is “pretty stoked” and Carvalho hopes to “come back next year and make it four.” Freshman Lily Benjamin was more focused on not letting her team down and “feels amazing” about the win. That even though the conditions were terrible, and according to Jack Benjamin it was “super hard this weekend,” it felt “pretty epic” to win.

The team may need more space in the gym to accommodate all of the trophies.

“We’ve already got three trophy cases total and there’s another one we’ll be using on the side close to the blacktop,” said Roberts.