Courtesy of SDSU Surf Team

The San Diego State surf team has been one of the top five collegiate teams in California the past two years, and members are currently preparing for the national championships. This comes after its first place finish at the state competition that took place last month.

The state competition was a success because the team was able to battle back after losing by two points in 2007 to rival University of California Santa Barbara. This year the competition was even closer, SDSU won by a single point against Mira Costa, 119-118. It was even more challenging because the surfing conditions created an extra obstacle to the team. SDSU surf coach, Tyler Smith, remembers the conditions of the surf well.

“It got down to the wire, both us and Mira Costa were doing really well,” Smith said. “The surf was really small. The team had to find the right waves to pull it off, and because the waves were so small it made it more of a competition.”

The standouts, on the men’s side, from the state competition included senior Drew Irons, who placed second, and junior Scott Cole, who placed fifth. Sophomore Allie Brown, pulled off a second place win on the women’s side. Irons, Scott and Brown’s contribution to the team’s overall score made it possible for it to head to the national competition.

Cole is optimistic about the momentum the state championships had on the team and is hopeful that the team will do well in the national competition.

“The national championships should be interesting because there are some good teams from Hawaii and Florida but for the most part we don’t really know what the competition is going to be like,” Cole said. “Based on our state win, we could do really well.”

The win at the state championships is a peak in the season that started off to a shaky start when the team lost two talented surfers early on in the semester. But they were able to grow closer as the season went on.

“I felt there was a great team effort at the state competition,” Brown said. “We have bonded a lot more as a team this year than previous years.”

The national competition will take place over three days starting June 17 to 20 in Dana Point. SDSU is currently a number one seeded team going into the competition.