Warriors Showed Out, Advance to Championship Round

By Francisco Claudio

 

It's incredible the growth that one year can bring in the realm of sports and how valuable experience and leadership can be when you compete at elite levels.

 

The Westcliff Surf team took the experience from a year ago and added the leadership of world-class surfer Jordy Collins to bring together a complete roster of highly skilled athletes to make a run at this year's nationals.

 

Now, they are just one day away and two heats from knowing who will be crowned national champions.

 

On Friday the Warriors competed in the first day of the NSSA National Interscholastic Championships and had four members that advanced to the final heat that will take place Sunday afternoon.

 

"Love to see the growth and crazy how fast the growth happened," Head Coach Kyle Rouse said. "This is our second year of competing fully and we already have a state title and are definitely a contender for a national title.

 

"Yesterday everyone did what they needed to do early on."

 

The results don't lie because Westcliff had nine athletes advance to the second round, last year that number was five.

 

Then five athletes advanced to the semifinal yesterday, last year it was four.

 

Last year, the Warriors had two members in the final round, this time around they have four.

 

Jordy Collins, Silke Martínez, Blaze Roche, and Sofia Freyre will represent Westcliff University on championship Sunday.

 

Just another example of a program on the rise, peaking at the right time, and proving that Westcliff Athletics is no joke, and is here to win and take titles.

 

"This is an awesome team and group of surfers," Rouse said. "All of them bring great qualities to the group and it's amazing to see them compete together. The culture is just an extension of the usual surf culture, and our group doesn't change that. 

 

"They're always happy for each other's success and ultimately they just want to see great waves and watch quality surfing which we're never short of having with the talent that's here."

 

Westcliff had 14 athletes compete on day 1.

 

First to go were a pair of dual-sport athletes in Zane Parmenter and Keaton Slack who are also star players on the baseball team.

 

Jake Shiroke competed in a tough heat in the first round where the conditions weren't as favorable.

 

Robbie Crist had his turn too in what would be his last round and tournament as a Warriors since he graduated.

 

Chelsea Taylor was able to get one run in after some poor conditions during her heat and she couldn't have been more excited afterward.

 

The remaining nine athletes advanced to the second round: Collins, Roche, Martinez, Freyre, Bryce Mattox, Cole Futak, Jack Hopkins, Eduardo Galindo, and Lucas Taub.

 

"Some great competitive surfing as the day started with some solid waves that led to some great scoring rides," Rouse said. "Tricky conditions and some flat heats made it a little difficult but some of them found a way to move on which was great to see.

"So happy for the four that have made the final. They surfed confidently and comfortably because in a 15-minute heat, it's easy to get anxious and force something but these four really surfed smart and efficiently." 

 

Collins made sure to bring some of his best tricks during the semifinals where he took first place with two scores of 8.5.

 

"Collins in the semifinal won the heat with two waves because he was efficient with wave selection and was patient," Rouse said. 

 

Roche was solid from the beginning and left no doubt that he belonged in the final round with a first-place finish in the quarter-final heat with two scores of 7.0 and 5.7.

 

"Roche coming into his first contest this year is amazing," Rouse said. "So proud of what he's accomplished academically to get himself to this point."

 

Martinez shined with two first-place results in the first heat and in the semifinal heat.

 

"Sofia and Silke weren't surprised that they were in the final," Rouse said. "They've made multiple finals this year and continue to surf effectively and smartly in every heat they're in."

 

The Warriors will hit the waves on Sunday and have the potential to go home with two national titles.

 

One is for the team title that Collins, Martinez, and Freyre will compete in and the other is for an individual national title that Roche will have a go at.

"Anxious to see how the wind affects the heats tomorrow afternoon but either way, they're going to need to be very efficient with wave selection," Rouse said. "One positive thing is that the final heat is longer in time which gives them the ability to be more patient at times, but ultimately the waves they choose are going to need to be surfed highly efficiently and most importantly, finished.

 

"The finishing maneuver yesterday showed that judges want a complete ride to get those excellent scores. Jordy, Sofia, Blaze, and Silke can definitely handle it though."

 

The men's heat will begin at 3:30 PM and the women's heat at 3:45 PM.

 

The location will be the same, Salt Creek Beach in Dana Point.

 

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Jake Shiroke: 5.60