Red Bull Surf Challenge 2008
Scorpions take back the beach
Satellite beats defending champ Cocoa Beach in Red Bull event
And call Satellite Beach's high school surfing team the best in Brevard.
The Scorpions won the Red Bull High School Surf Challenge on Thursday, defeating defending champion Cocoa Beach in a high-scoring match at Pelican Park Beach.
"We're ecstatic," said Satellite Beach coach George Segunda, who got an icy bath from the cooler after his team won. "Our guys deserve this, they've worked so hard."
Surfing at their backyard beach, the Scorpions performed almost flawlessly, racking up big wave after big wave and high score after high score and beat the Minutemen 71.8-65 in the X Games-style scoring system, a team format that is divided into three timed periods.
The Scorpions said it helped surfing at their home beach.
"We practice here, and we know the breaks, and we know what waves to take and which ones not to," said sophomore Peter Polanski, who was named the MVP of the match. "So we had an advantage for sure."
Polanski was easily the best surfer on Thursday and had the two highest scores of the day, including a monster score of 9.3 in the first period.
"It was a right," Polanski said. "I just made a couple of nice turns and got some good air and landed it."
When the Scorpions clinched their victory, Segunda and another Satellite Beach surfer carried Polanski back to him team as the large, pro-Satellite Beach crowd applauded.
"Peter was unstoppable today," Segunda said. "He surfed solid all day long."
Satellite Beach led after all three periods and Cocoa Beach, which scored high in every period, just couldn't keep up.
"We had a big boost of confidence surfing here," said Chris Tucker, a freshman on the Satellite Beach team. "And we took advantage of that and just had fun and surfed well."
Going into the final period, the Scorpions led by 10 points and needed just 14 points to win the match.
And it didn't take long.
About two minutes into the 12-minute period, Tucker scored a 6.5 on a wave that clinched the victory.
"Before they went out in the final period, I just told them to stay focused, pick out the best waves and make sure you finish your maneuvers," Segunda said. "And they listened, apparently."
With the win, Satellite Beach earned itself a trip to San Clemente, California to compete in the national Red Bull High School Surf Challenge event competition, which is scheduled for June 13-15.
The Scorpions are confident they can contend out West, and they'll do so against seven other schools from Florida, eight from New Jersey and dozens from California.
"We will definitely compete, no doubt about that," Segunda said. "And I'm going to train them really hard over the next month to make sure."
The surfers said they can't wait to surf the California waves.
"We are all so psyched," Tucker said. "Just knowing we're going to Cali with all our buddies, it's just awesome."
1 comment:
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