By Brent Frederisy
The Barons fought hard but lost to the Oilers, 57-90, in the waters of Huntington Beach for the surf competition on Tuesday.
“I think we did pretty well,” said surfer Colleen Millican (’14). “All of our kids really charged hard; we really tried our best.”
Fountain Valley did not lose without a fight—in the second heat, Delaney Millican (’17), Colleen Millican (‘14), and Aly Johns (‘14) gave Huntington’s women’s long board team a run for their money. Huntington just barely pulled ahead by one point.
John Richardson (’14) pulled off an impressive outside left that placed him in second for mens long board. This was his first competition.
“We actually did really well, Huntington is the top team in the league,” said head coach David Rorden. “They have a lot of young-up-and-coming pros so they’re really difficult to have them come up against us.”
Administrative tides are changing in the surf program with the replacement of head coach, Carlos Santana, with Coach Rorden only a few weeks ago. This contest was his first as head of the team.
“He’s awesome; he’s a homie,” said Riley Donohoo (’16) about Rorden, “He works with the players a lot and it’s really cool.”
The FVHS surf program recently faced a tumultuous summer. The Activities Office considered discontinuing the program during second semester due to attendance issues. Then a coaching change shook some of the organizational aspects of the team. But the surfers remain unfazed.
“I don’t think the surfers really mind,” says surfer Eric Tello (‘15), “We still get to go into the water.”
Nice article Brent. Thanks for coming down and watching the Surf Team!