Briefly In Sports

Cairns coaches Team USA to surf title

Laguna Beach resident Ian Cairns, recently named coach of the PacSun USA Surf team, led the team to the gold medal Aug. 9 at the Billabong ISA World Surfing Games in Costa Rica.

It was the first time that the Americans had won an overall gold medal in 13 years, since Team USA won at the 1996 World Surfing Games in Huntington Beach.

“We had good surfers and what we did was to stay very concentrated,” Cairns said in a release. “This is a long event and it was very important to preserve your energy.”

Team USA outlasted France, helped by a gold-medal performance by Santa Ana’s Courtney Conlogue in the women’s final and a silver by Cory Lopez of Florida in the open men’s final.

“I am really very happy,” Cairns said in the release. “My goal was to come here and win. But also I wanted to establish a different personality for American surfing. I didn’t want to make a lot of noise until things were happening. We built the support, the calmness and we focused on being together and concentrating on doing things well. Later, at the final, we went to the beach to wave the flag.”

Wacholder third in San Francisco

Laguna Beach High product Rachel Wacholder and partner Kerri Walsh finished third over the weekend at the Assn. of Volleyball Professionals San Francisco Open.

Wacholder and Walsh, playing in their second tournament since both came back from childbirth, improved from a fifth-place finish at Hermosa Beach. They advanced to the semifinals in San Francisco before falling to top-seeded Nicole Branagh and Elaine Youngs, 21-16, 19-21, 7-15. They split $10,200 in winnings.

The AVP Tour continues this weekend in Muskegon, Mich.

Two-a-days start Tuesday

The Laguna Beach High football team begins two-a-day practices Tuesday as the 2009 season draws near.

The Breakers will practice Tuesday from 7:30-11 a.m., then again from 3-6 p.m.

Laguna Beach, which finished 5-6 and in second place in the Orange Coast League last year, is preparing for its season opener at home against Corona del Mar on Sept. 11.