Surfing
The second event of the National Scholastic Surfing Association college schedule took place on Nov. 22 at UCSD’s home break, Blacks Beach. Large waves, cold air and a high tide caused all of the teams to set up their tents at the base of the cliffs to avoid getting wet. The UCSD team immediately showed off their local knowledge by situating their large white Rusty tent high above the beach, overlooking the contest site and away from the elements.
From the get-go, all of UCSD’s surfers looked comfortable and confident in the unruly surf, while other teams were shaken and intimidated by the power that Blacks had to offer. With three competitive teams, each consisting of six male shortboarders, one female surfer, one longboarder and one bodyboarder, UCSD had a presence in most of the heats throughout the day. As the day progressed and competitors from the other 30 or so teams lost their heats, UCSD’s teams continued to advance.
A dramatic break in the action occurred when a huge slab of the cliffs hanging over Blacks Beach came down. Dozens of people had been spectating below the cliffs, and all of them were forced to run as large boulders and rubble fell from hundreds of feet above them. Nobody was injured, though a number of surfboards and wetsuits were lost in the rubble.
Following the cliff collapse, the competition was put on hold. Lifeguards, police, other officials and media all came to the site of the rockslide to ensure the safety of the area.
“”I’ve never witnessed a rockslide nearly that big at Blacks, and I’ve also never seen so many people hanging out in such a precarious position under the cliffs,”” UCSD’s team captain Dan Hodul said. “”We were very lucky not to have lost multiple people in that mess.””
An hour or so after the rockslide, competition resumed, and UCSD picked up where it had left off. Eventually, many of UCSD’s competitors were narrowly defeated in the smaller, less shapely surf, but come finals time, UCSD still had a number of people still in the running. Bodyboarder Nick Statom dominated all day, but scored a disappointing third -lace finish in his division.
For the UCSD women, both Loryn Wilson and Megan Manuel made the finals. Wilson, defending national and state champion, received her worst result to date, a fourth-place finish, while Manuel stepped up and placed second for UCSD’s “”C”” team. Both Gary Trischman and Zach Plopper made the men’s final. Trischman received fourth place. Plopper had won each of his heats all day en route to the final, but he broke his board in the semis. Forced to rely on a backup board, Plopper was still able to beat fellow competitors and win the event.
Overall, UCSD dominated. The “”C”” team took 10th place and the “”B”” team took fifth ‹ beating the majority of other schools’ “”A”” teams. The UCSD “”A”” team won the whole event by a landslide. Going into the next event in first place, UCSD’s team is looking to repeat this year as both state and national champions.
Women’s Rugby
The UCSD women’s rugby team is quickly earning a reputation of winning anything and everything it does. Case in point, its first tournament of the season in Las Vegas: In spite of not traveling with the full squad, the Tritons won the women’s division, finishing the weekend undefeated.
UCSD was up and running on Nov. 8, notching two wins against Utah State by the score of 15-7 and shutting out Las Vegas, 40-0, in a display of offensive and defensive ruthlessness. The following day proved to be nerve-wrenching for the team and fans alike, with UCSD prevailing in a close 7-5 victory over Coast, a women’s club team. The Nov. 9 championship game featured a slightly modified 10-on-10 match-up, but UCSD was able to adapt easily, taking first place on the weekend.
Equestrian
The UCSD equestrian team has quickly established itself to be a division powerhouse this year, consistently placing among the top colleges on the west coast. At its first home show, it was no different, with multiple riders taking first place in their classes, and the team taking home the Champion Prize on Nov. 15.
Captain Kate McComas began the day on a high note, taking first in open jumping. Linda Torres also took first in intermediate jumping and open flat, winning the Nov. 15 Highpoint Rider Champion Prize, with McComas winning Reserve Champion Highpoint Rider.
On Nov. 16, captain Marce Evans finished first in novice jumping, qualifying her for regional championships in March and moving up a division to the intermediate jumping class in the next competition. Torres won her intermediate kumping class again on Nov. 16, also qualifying her for regional championships and moving up a division to open jumping. McComas won her open flat class, with freshman Cassie La Bouff winning the novice flat class. The team finished as reserve champions by a mere four points over cross-town rivals University of San Diego.
The following weekend the team pulled double duty with an English show on Nov. 22 hosted by USD and a western show on Nov. 23. By late Nov. 23, UCSD proved victorious once again by taking home the Reserve Champion Prize and remains the No. 1 equestrian team in Southern California. Instrumental in this victory were two-time champion Torres along with new riders Kayti Mathewson, Jessica Averilla, Fiona McKenna, Allison Henderson, Kellie Davis, Shannon Ward and Kathryn Paniaan.
Sailing
The open ocean just outside Santa Barbara Yacht Club served well as a proving ground for some of the best sailors on the West Coast. The weekend of Nov. 15 and Nov. 16 saw variable conditions with winds raning from 10 knots on Nov. 15 to only two knots for most of Nov. 16, forcing adaptation from all sailors in order to show well across a wide spectrum of weather and competitive sailing. Temperatures in the mid- to upper 60’s invited sailors from across the country to the open waters.
UCSD managed some of its best overall sailing thus far with a ninth place finish overall out of 15 varsity teams, some from as far away as Georgetown. This finish placed UCSD one place ahead of its close rival UC Berkeley, but still eight places behind the winner, Hawaii. Top UCSD honors went to Sean Anderson and Fionah Dominis as they sailed to a seventh-place finish in the Varsity A division, but it was the consistent sailing of Jeff Simon and Chris Nilsen in the Laser division that allowed UCSD to nudge past Cal in the final standings.
UCSD’s two junior varsity division boats managed to place eighth and ninth out of 15 and once again demonstrated the depth of this young team.
With the UCSD sailing team mostly comprised of sophomores and freshmen, the future looks bright as each regatta sees UCSD claiming the overall results. Despite a break in the regatta schedule, UCSD won’t be cutting back on practice.
Men’s ultimate
The UCSD ultimate frisbee teams hosted 12 other colleges in the annual SoCal Warm-Up Tournament on Nov. 22 and Nov. 23, an event intended to get some experience under the belts of new members. UCSD’s Air Squids divided themselves into three separate squads, dubbed Jihad, Potassium and Le Lube to compete against opponents from around California and Arizona.
Team Jihad cruised through all of their games on Nov. 22, capping the day with a 15-7 victory over archrivals UC Santa Barbara Blacktide’s split squad. Team Potassium was not so fortunate, losing close games to UCLA and Occidental, but beating Northern Arizona at the end of pool play. Team Le Lube fared well against their early opponents, but came up short against the two-time defending champion Arizona.
In the pre-quarter match-up between teams from UCSB and UCSD, there were some controversies over the score of the game. Throughout the intense battle, no one remembered the exact score at halftime. It was assumed to be 8-6 in favor of the Squids, and an agreement was made between the two teams’ captains that the game would be played to 11 because daylight was running short. After the agreement was made, a Squid captain pointed out that the point total should have been odd, but that issue was never resolved between the two teams. As the teams ran out of daylight, the score was 10-9, advantage Squids. After much discussion, the captains agreed to play early next morning. Resuming play at 8 a.m. the following morning, UCSB committed an unforced error at the goal line, and after a time out, UCSD’s Stephen Ringel broke the mark with a lefty high-release backhand to put the game away, 11-9.
The other pre-quarter game also featured UCSD against UCSB. Team Potassium could not hold on to their early lead, and lost to a UCSB team, 13-12. The loss sent Potassium into the “”beer”” bracket on Nov. 23, where they defeated University of San Diego and Cal Poly San Louis Obispo in the “”beer”” quarters and semifinals. Due to several injuries, UCSB was forced to forfeit, and the Potassium squad became the Beer Bracket Champions by default.
Meanwhile, in the championship bracket, Squids were pitted against their fellow teammates as Jihad and Le Lube faced off in the quarters. The two teams played a hard-fought game, with Jihad coming out on top, 14-9. Jihad then defeated UCLA, 11-9, in the semi-final match-up. However, it ran out of gas, and the split squad lost, 15-5, to the eventual back-to-back-to-back SoCal Warm-Up Tournament champions, Arizona.
Overall, the Squids had a strong showing in their first tournament of the year. The three teams finished second, fifth and ninth out of 16 teams. The large group of returning A-team players bodes well for the future of the Squids. Notable players for UCSD included Garrett Wong, Robert Langser, Matthew Waller and Sunny Saini.
