Once again, SJHHS’ surf team has triumphed over the competition in this year’s league championships. Year after year, the surf team has brought home countless awards and banners.

Last April, the surf team won the 2014 Scholastic Surf Series Division B High School State Championship. It was the team’s 2nd Championship in as many years. They competed against teams from all over California, from San Diego to Santa Cruz.

Walker Carvalho (11), a surfer of 5 years, shared that his favorite moment was winning his heat. Carvalho is proud of the team’s success. “The surf team has over half the banners in the gym,” he reveals.

In just their 4th season participating in the State Competition, the team surfed their way to 3 of 5 Finals appearances, claiming the Men’s Longboard Team State Championship for the 4th consecutive year. The team also won the Men’s Shortboard and Women’s Longboard State Championship titles.

The team competes in the Capistrano Coast League, made up of San Juan Hills, Capistrano Valley, Tesoro and Aliso Niguel. State Championship competitions take place in the Spring, while League Competition takes place in the Fall.

This year the team headed into the Capistrano Coast League Finals as the number 1 seed for the 2nd year in a row. They solidified their dominance in their league, winning both the Boys’ and Girls’ League Championships, undefeated in League competition.

The team dominated again this year in the Capistrano Coast League Finals, winning 4 of 5 Individual League Championships. Kevin Skvarna (11) won Boys’ Longboard, Gabby McCormic (10) won Girls’ Longboard, Cameron Duby (9) won Girls’ Shortboard and Walker Carvalho (11) won the Bodyboard Division.

Kolton Sullivan (11), a surfer of more than 13 years, says, “being ranked number 1 is intimidating because if we are too confident and end up blowing it next year, we could be looked down upon.”

This year, the team was led by Sawyer and Walker Carvalho, Gabby McCormic, Jill Moore, Jack Reckinger, Meg Roh, John Seely, Kevin Skvarna, and Kolton Sullivan. They worked extremely hard this year to defend their State title and are excited to raise yet another banner in the gymnasium.

From the countless cold, dark morning practices to the warm, after school get-togethers, all of the team’s hard work has been rewarding.

With talented lower classmen on the team, the team’s success will flourish at league and state championships in years to come.