DOUBLE TROUBLE
Flagler College Re-Ups With Second Straight Collegiate Surfing Association East Coast
Championships Individual And Team Title By Nick McGregor; Photos by Chris Wilson
As collegiate surfing on the East Coast continues to
expand, one school has cemented its stronghold on the Collegiate Surfing
Association 1st-place podium — St. Augustine, FL’s, Flagler College.
After winning the team title at last year’s CSA East Coast Championships,
Flagler returned to this year’s incarnation, which was held Monday, March 8th during
most colleges’ Spring Break as part of Surf Fest 2010 at Sebastian Inlet, FL.
The CSA event boasted a unique hour-long tag-team
heat format, where one surfer from each team would surf simultaneously, catch
three waves, and have his or her best two scored. That surfer would paddle in,
tag the next member of the team, and continue down the line until all six squad
members had bagged two solid waves in the allotted time. Strategy,
communication, and patience were key components of the event, which favored
teams with deep experience like Flagler College.
In the biggest waves of the Surf Fest week, Flagler sent
its six-person A team, consisting of Eric Taylor, Adam Muller, Stephen
Kaltenbach, Tom Casse, Brent Meinhold, and Marissa Guthrie, into throttling four
to five-foot north swell. Flagler won each of its heats convincingly, making
quick work of the University of Florida in the semifinals before meeting up
with the hometown crew of Florida Tech in the final. Led by competitive freak
ET, Flagler jumped out to a dominating lead, and eventually won the heat with a
combined score of 134.8-89.4 over Sebastian Moreno and the rest of the FIT
surfers. “We have a pretty solid team,” Taylor said, “but we felt some pressure
from Florida Tech and earlier on from UCF. All in all though, this is a great
event.” Moreno, who still has another year left at FIT, said, “We’re a fairly
young team and we haven’t done a whole lot of contests as a unit. We’ll
definitely be working on bettering our result next year.”
For its win, Flagler received a $500 donation from
the Collegiate Surfing Association, in addition to a $350 scholarship in Taylor’s
name for clinching Most Valuable Male. New Smyrna Beach wahine wonder Amy
Nicholl won Most Valuable Female competing for UCF, and the $200 donation and
$100 Long Doggers gift certificate Most Spirited prize was split between the
dancing and face-painted FIT squad and the cheerleading-led UF crew, who even
rode a few alligator rafts in the Sebastian Inlet closeouts. “This contest is
so much fun and we had a blast coming down to Brevard County for a couple days
of surf,” UF captain Brett Langlois said. “I wish we could have done better in
the comp, but we had a great time.”
FINAL
RESULTS OF THE 2010 COLLEGIATE SURFING ASSOCIATION EAST COAST CHAMPIONSHIPS:
Surf Fest 2010 continues on Thursday, March 11th with
the Ron Jon Sebastian Inlet Grade 3M ASP Pro Junior and Skullcandy Grade 2W ASP
Pro Junior; visit www.SurfFest2010.com for updates
TEAM
Flagler College, $500
MOST
VALUABLE MALE
Eric Taylor, Flagler College,
$350 scholarship
MOST
VALUABLE FEMALE
Amy Nicholl, UCF, $350 scholarship
MOST
SPIRITED
Tie between UF and Florida Tech, $200 donation
and
$100 Long Doggers gift certificate
THE OLD IN-OUT
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