Sage Hill’s Conlogue to compete in Huntington

For now, Courtney Conlogue is in Hawaii, but in a few days she’ll be back in Orange County.

She’ll be at Huntington Beach ready to defend her girls’ under-18 title in the USA Championships, which starts Monday on the south side of the Huntington Beach Pier.

Conlogue, a sophomore at Sage Hill School, won’t start competing until Thursday and she plans to also be surfing on Saturday, when the finals will unfold.

Until then, it’s business as usual for Conlogue. At Sage Hill, she’s hitting the books. On the water, she’s hitting the waves. Her name is becoming known internationally in the surfing world. In the publicity for this week’s event, Conlogue has been a featured name.

That’s mostly because she is defending her title. But that’s also because of her notoriety coming at such a young age. She has been profiled in Sports Illustrated and splashed onto dozens of Internet websites.

Just this past July, she nearly won the U.S. Open of Surfing. She just missed taking down one of her biggest surfing idols: Australian Stephanie Gilmore.

But at only 15 years old, Conlogue knows there will be plenty of opportunities to be the best, to be famous.

To keep people from forgetting her, she knows she needs to continue to work.

Right now, that means training in Hawaii because she’ll be going back there for competition next month, her mother, Tracey said.

“It’s fine,” Tracey said of her daughter being away in Hawaii for the past five days. “Not a big deal.”

Last year, Conlogue was capable of fitting cross country and track and field into her busy schedule. Not so this year. Tracey said her daughter will sometimes train with Sage Hill cross country team. But no meets for her.

She’s too busy either working out in the ocean or competing against other surfers. That’s what she’ll be doing next week in Huntington Beach.

Oct. 28 is a key date for Conlogue. The top finishers from her field will be included in the USA Surf Team Trials. The one-day trials, also in Huntington Beach, will conclude with the announcement of the 2008 USA Surf Team.

Following the trials will be a scrimmage with the Australian national team on Oct. 30. Team Australia, last year’s World Junior Championship team, will be in town for training as well as the rematch against the Americans.

The informal event will take place in Huntington Beach at 9th Street.

— From staff reports