Mira Costa High Claims Red Bull Riders Cup Los Angeles Regional Championships

Posted on April 17, 2009 1:45 PM

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The Los Angeles Regional Championships, the fourth stop of the 2009 Red Bull Riders Cup season, took place this week during a cold snap in the Los Angeles South Bay beach break at El Porto. This stop of the Red Bull Riders Cup, the nation's premier high school surfing competition, saw L.A.'s best high school surfers battling against both each other and the cold and windy conditions. Participating high schools included Redondo Union High, Mira Costa High, Palos Verdes High and Palisades Charter High School. This regional competition was completely dominated by Mira Costa High, who raised the bar for the surfing series, setting themselves up as the team to beat at this year's Red Bull Riders Cup National Championship, which will be held on June 6-7 at Upper Trestles in San Clemente. For its fifth regional stop, the series now moves back east to north Florida on April 21-23.

Mira Costa High was the first to book a spot in the regional finals with a win over Redondo Union High during an early morning matchup on Wednesday. But as the day progressed, so did bad weather, and the high winds caused the afternoon qualifier, the game between Palisades Charter High and Palos Verdes High, to be postponed. Mira Costa High was left eagerly awaiting word on who they would face in Thursday's regional finals.

With the weather finally cooperating, Palos Verdes High put in a strong performance and beat Palisades Charter High in their delayed qualifier on Thursday. But fresh off their victory, the team has forced to head right back into the water for the regional final against the powerful Mira Costa High. The difference between the two finalist teams was clear from the team introductions, with the more mature Mira Costa High team towering over Palos Verdes High and showcasing a clear advantage in both height and strength. Mira Costa High won the coin toss and elected to surf first in choppy, waist to chest high waves.

Mira Costa High declared their intentions from the outset of the first period, making the most of tough conditions and posting a very high total of 28 points, the strong team performance highlighted by a solid 8.0 ride from Brent Bowen.

In contrast, Palos Verdes High struggled to back up their solid qualifier form, and with no team members scoring higher than 2.5 points, could only manage a first period total of 8.5 points. This set the stage for one of the biggest defeats in Red Bull Riders Cup history. With Mira Costa High going into the top of the second period with such a large lead, their confidence only grew, and the team let loose, continuing to post solid scores despite the deteriorating conditions. Palos Verdes High found themselves clearly outgunned, and could not catch a break in the second period, only managing to equal their first period total of 8.5 points.

With the game all but over at the start of the third and final period, Mira Costa High again upped their game, posting good scores and putting on a show with some crowd pleasing aerials. By the time they were done they had shut the door on Palos Verdes, leading by an astonishing 50 points and making it mathematically impossible for Palos Verdes to win. Even in the face of certain defeat, the brave Palos Verdes team still paddled out for their third period and put together their best period of the finals, earning a score of 18 points.

After such a convincing win, Mira Costa coach Joe Lederer had this to say, "I'm really proud of these guys, they came out today and did well in these conditions, they made it look great out there and we're really looking forward to going to Upper Trestles and being a serious competitor this year."

With such a solid team performance and all surfers contributing greatly, it was tough to pick an MVP. Kelly Zaun just slightly beat out older brother Dane for the honor. "I'm really stoked, I didn't expect to get such high scores today. Everyone surfed so well, we were much more of a team than last year," said the MVP. He added that a team lead by the Zaun brothers was going to be tough to beat in the Red Bull Riders Cup National Championships on June 6-7.