San Dieguito Academy Takes Final Riders Cup Qualifier

Categories:

_JWB7082.jpgThe San Diego Regional Championships, the eighth and final regional stop of the 2009 Red Bull Riders Cup season, took place this week, with participating high schools including Carlsbad High School, Point Loma High, Torrey Pines High, and San Dieguito Academy.  This stop of the Red Bull Riders Cup, the nation's premier high school surfing competition, saw a classic rivalry continue as the 2007 and 2008 national champions battled it out against each other.  This year it was San Dieguito Academy earning the bragging rights as they defeated last year's champs Carlsbad High. This win means that the eight team field that will battle it out in the Red Bull Riders Cup National Championship at Trestles on June 6-7 is now set.

In cold, windy conditions and only two to three foot waves, the victor of the San Diego Regional Championship was going to be decided by who got the ocean to cooperate.  In what ended up being a of the biggest deciding factors of the game, Carlsbad won the coin toss and picked San Dieguito to surf first.

_JWB6953.jpgSan Dieguito started strong with their first big exchange of waves netting them a solid 20.5 points.  They made the decision to sub in Austin Rowe, who nailed a 6 point ride, and Derrick Disney closed the period out with 7 points, giving the team a very strong 23 points total for the period.  In contrast, Carlsbad got off to a slow start as the ocean was just not producing the waves they needed.  After some timeouts and hard work, they managed to scratch their way to a competitive 20.5 to close out the period and keep the score close.

But San Dieguito kept their nose in front with solid scores by JD Lewis and Derrick Disney, but with their other two riders only scored 3.5 points each, leaving the door open for a Carlsbad comeback.  Carlsbad tried everything in the bottom of the second period, including using the rest of their timeouts to try and claw back the deficit.  But they could only manage 18.5 points and were in a deep hole going into the last period.

_JWB7000.jpgSan Dieguito only compounded the pressure in the final period by posting another high score and making the task for Carlsbad a very tough one.  Carlsbad needed nothing short of 7 point rides by all their surfers to win the game, so the coach instructed his team to wait for big set waves.  Unfortunately the ocean simply did not cooperate and last year's national champions were knocked out as San Dieguito Academy claimed victory.

San Dieguito Academy's coach Oly Norris said, "I'm feeling really excited about the win today.  I think we have a lot of positive momentum we can take forward with us into the final and hopefully regain our national title."    

_MG_6899.jpgWith two 7 point rides, MVP honors went to JD Lewis "I'm really psyched on how the team did!  We have so much depth it's ridiculous, I know the guys on the bench would have done the same thing."

With the 8 teams now set, it's on to the Red Bull Riders Cup National Championships on June 6-7 to see who will be crowned 2009 Red Bull Riders Cup National Champion.
 

Share this post

  • digg this!
  • share on facebook
  • del.icio.us

7 Comments

Facebook profile image for Xm Richmedia
Xm Richmedia

sdsdf

Facebook profile image for Xm Richmedia
Xm Richmedia

sdf

Facebook profile image for Xm Richmedia
Xm Richmedia

sdf

Facebook profile image for Xm Richmedia
Xm Richmedia

sdfsdf

Facebook profile image for Xm Richmedia
Xm Richmedia

werwerwersdf

Facebook profile image for Xm Richmedia
Xm Richmedia

zaxax

Facebook profile image for Xm Richmedia
Xm Richmedia

x vxcvxcv

Post Your Comment

Or use your Facebook account to login