SURFING
UCSD’s surf team competed at the 2003 National Scholastic Surfing Association State Championships at Church Beach in San Clemente, Calif., on May 10. Coming off of their best season in years, the UCSD surfers had high expectations going into the tournament. Although UCSD came out with some of the best individual showings, they came just short of dethroning Mira Costa City College for the State Crown.
Loryn Wilson, UCSD’s premier female surfer, dominated all the other girls, winning the coveted state women’s title. Similarly, Zach Plopper won the highly competitive male shortboard division to claim the state male title, becoming the first UCSD surfer to win the prize in over six years.
In the men’s longboard division, UCSD’s Ed Gendreau finished in fifth place, and Britt Joyce finished third in bodyboard. In addition, Clint Edwards and Aaron Napier were awarded the Best Coach of the Year and Best Captain of the Year awards, respectively, from the NSSA, for their hard work and devotion in turning a mediocre team into potential national champions.
Overall, UCSD narrowly lost to Mira Costa by five points (99-94), finishing second place out of 13 competing collegiate teams. The top four teams in the state were all from the San Diego area, with USD and SDSU coming in third and fourth, respectively.
It was a strong weekend for the UCSD surf team, and now it has sights set on winning the national title. Especially looking forward to the National Competition is Wilson. She has won four of the five events this year, including the women’s conference and state titles, and has proved to be one of the most dominant female surfers in the NSSA.
EQUESTRIAN
The UCSD equestrian team sent two riders to compete in the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association Nationals last weekend. The competition was held in Murfreesboro, Tenn.
For both UCSD competitors, Kate McComas and Natalie Freeman, this was their first time attending the IHSA nationals.
Freeman competed on May 3 in Individual Walk-Trot, in which she placed ninth out of 19 riders and was pleased with her performance.
McComas competed on May 4 in the last event of the competition. The horse she drew to ride happened to be the largest horse at the competition, and McComas placed 11th out of 18 riders.
“”I came out a bit disappointed but the horse was a bit cranky and really rough to ride,”” McComas said.
Both McComas and Freeman were honored to have competed at the IHSA nationals and are now working toward qualifying during the 2003-04 season.
CYCLING
UCSD cycling sent a squad to compete in the National Collegiate Championship races hosted by UC Berkeley in the Bay Area this past weekend.
May 9 featured a criterium — a short one-mile circuit with six turns. In the men’s Division I race, UCSD’s Tona Rodriguez-Nikl and Geoff Rapoport fought their way through a field of almost 150 riders to the lead group and finished in 27th and 33rd, respectively.
The women’s race started a 2:45 p.m.; by then, the wind had picked up, forcing UCSD’s Laura Resor to battle both the winds and the 80 other girls on the course to a 17th-place finish.
On May 10 was a team-time trial, where members of a team work together to complete a 40 kilometer course with the best possible time. The men’s squad, composed of Rapoport, Rodriguez-Nilk, Mike Hannon and Eric Mellers, posted a time of 59 minutes, taking 18th place. The women’s team, made up of Resor, Megan Wemmer and Ramlah Nehring posted a ninth-place finish in the women’s field.
The feature race of the weekend came on May 11. The event consisted of a 10-mile loop over McEwen Hill, which has a maximum grade of 15 percent.
The men completed eight laps, a total of 80 miles, with over 22,000 vertical feet of climbing. Rapoport clawed to place 24th overall in a field of over 100. Resor battled to take 10th place, with Wemmer trailing in at 46th place in a field of about 80 riders.
The combined efforts of the team were enough to achieve a national ranking of 11th place of 200 total collegiate cycling teams throughout the United States.
BADMINTON
The UCSD badminton team traveled to UCLA on May 10 to compete in the Southern California Collegiate Badminton League Post Season Tournament.
UCSD’s women gave a solid performance in both singles and doubles. UCSD’s Dara Walsh and Dede Davis ended up facing each other in the women’s singles final with Walsh winning in three sets. In the women’s doubles finals, Walsh and Davis were supposed to go against Riyouko Lim and Grace Cheung, also from UCSD, but due to time constraints, the match was not played.
For the men, Triton newcomer Ralf Brunner beat several top players on his way to the finals. Although he fought hard, he lost to UCI’s top player in straight sets.
However, Brunner was not done; he and Scott Bering made it to the men’s doubles final for UCSD and were set to play UC Irvine, but that match was also not played due to time constraints.
In mixed doubles, UCSD’s David Lamb and Grace Cheung made it to the finals, which were canceled due to time constraints.
Seven out of the 10 UCSD teams reached the finals. The three teams that could not reach the finals lost to UCI, making the upcoming match hosted by UCSD, on May 24 against Irvine and PCC, even more exciting with both UCI and UCSD playing for the league title. The match is set for 9 a.m. at the Main Gym.
— Compiled by Anu Kumar
Sports Editor
