Worth the wait

The 47th annual Brooks Street Surfing Classic finally came to

fruition last weekend, after a 13-week wait.

The event, sponsored by the city of Laguna Beach Community

Services Department, was made possible by a swell that was generated

by hurricanes below Baja, said the department’s Ron Lutz.

The swells arrived Friday and continued through Sunday.

Nearly 16 hours of competition in 54 heats began at 9 a.m.

Saturday and concluded at 2:30 Sunday afternoon.

Champions among 151 competitors were determined in 13 different

categories.

With Beach Marshall Brady Faber and the recreation staff giving

the go-ahead for the event Saturday morning, preliminary competition

began in the larger divisions: pro-am, junior men, masters, senior

masters and longboards.

Chris Taylor and Aaron Gaul shared master of ceremony duties.

A look at the results:

Women’s

In the only final staged on Saturday, Alisa Cairns Schwarzsten, a

perennial champion, repeated as the women’s division winner.

She won the event in 2004.

Jenny Quam finished in second place, followed by Rio Poller, the

winner of the 45th annual event, Rachel Kendall and Heather Fish.

Girls’ 14-and-Under

Returning for the first time in several years was a girls’

14-and-under division. Hannah Fait finished first among six entries.

Finishing behind Fait were Camille Borges, Morea Arthur, Lexi Ross,

Sara Zuziak and Dylan Conroy.

Pro-Am

The division, featuring a $1,800 prize purse, was won by Brooks

Street legend Jeff Booth, who finished second last year.

Pat O’Connell finished second, Tristram Miller was third and Mike

Carter finished fourth.

Grand Masters

(ages 50 and above)

Tex Haines successfully defended his 2004 title. Mark MacRae,

third last year, moved up a notch to second place. Ron Sizemore, who

won the 25th annual competition, was third, and Keith Gregg finished

fourth for the second straight year.

Senior Masters

(ages 40-49)

Richard “Dickie” Carlson, second a year ago, won the division

Sunday. Dave Skarman was second, Aldo “Kirk” Juenthner was third, and

two-time defending champion Scott Holt finished in fourth place.

Masters

(ages 30-39)

Retired pro Pat O’Connell, who was second in the pro-am division,

put on an impressive wave display in winning the Masters title. He

was followed by Tristram Miller, Sean Brown and defending champion

Brandy Faber.

Senior Men’s

(ages 24-29)

The division, which featured four new faces, and was won by Marcel

Mead. In second place was Steve Hearst, with Dan Stafford third and

Dave Strong fourth.

Men’s

(ages 18-23)

Another division with new competitors saw Brad Burdick win the

competition. He was followed by Clayton Snyder, Matt Johnson and

Dylan Fait.

Junior Men’s

(ages 14-17)

Nate Zoller improved upon his third-place standing from a year ago

to win the event. Boys’ division 2004 winner Eli Viszolay finished

second, Max Brick was third and Dylan McDonald was fourth.

Boys’

(ages 13 and under)

In another division dominated by new competitors, Porter Hogan

came up with the top score to beat out Spencer Freidenrich, Christian

Ravenscroft, Henry Ward and Hunter Schwirtz, who finished second

through fifth, respectively.

Longboards

(9 feet and longer)

Juenthner, who finished in third place in the senior masters

division, earned his second plaque of the classic by winning the

event. Keith Gregg, fourth in the Grand Masters division, was second

in longboards, Goff Stepien was third and Chad “Frog” Nelson was

fourth.

Bodyboards

Ron Sizemore, known as the “iron man of Brooks Street” and a

third-place finisher in the grand masters division, won the

bodyboarding event, the last surfing event of the classic. Jordan

“Jordo” Katz was second, Howard Hills third, Ted Taylor fourth, Frank

Carri fifth and Steve Cohn sixth.

Paddleboard race

The 47th annual classic ended with a paddleboard race out to the

second reef and back. It was won by William Mini in a time of 6:10.

He edged out Kelly French, who placed second at 6:16. David Skarman

was third and Ted Taylor fourth.

Cy Chambers Memorial Award

The award, for a young surfer who typifies excellence in

academics, sportsmanship and surfing ability, was presented to Nate

Zoller.

Tom Chambers Memorial Award

Ryah Arthur was named the recipient of an honor bestowed on a

surfer exemplifying artistic and personal style.