Wet ‘N’ Wild with Rockin’ Fig:

The National Scholastic Surfing Assn. held its 2010 NSSA Interscholastic State Championships from March 5 to 7 at the Huntington Beach Pier. It was surfing’s version of March Madness, as three days of intense competition with 46 schools, 21 college teams, 11 high schools, five junior varsity and nine middle schools went head-to-head for State Titles.

In the high school division, San Clemente dominated this year again, racking up 116 points to second-place Newport Harbor with 102 points. Consistency was the key for San Clemente, as it posted more surfers in the three division finals racking the big points. Huntington Beach High finished third with 87 points, Edison fourth with 71 and Marina 11th with 19 points. One high point for Huntington was in the men’s final, when Christian Saenz came from behind in the last four minutes, finding a set wave and slashing away on his back side to score an 8.17-point ride to claim the State Title. Newport Harbor’s Colin Moran was second, and Edison’s Clay Crandal finished sixth.

In the women’s final, Laguna Beach’s Taylor Pitz came in first while Newport Harbor’s Shelby Detmers and Kaleigh Gilchrist were second and third, respectively. In long boards, Edison’s Jeff Newell was impressive and claimed a State Title, and Huntington Beach High’s Tony Bartovich came in third. In junior varsity, San Clemente won again with 107 points, with Huntington Beach High second with 61 points and Edison third with 44 points. In the gals, Erica Andersen placed fourth for Huntington, and in long board Shaun Thompson was second for Edison with Taylor McDole third for Huntington.

In middle-school action, Shorecliffs from San Clemente won for the fifth straight year, while Sowers and Dwyer were fourth and fifth. Colt Ward won boys and Kulia Doherty won gals for Shorecliffs. In college, San Diego State got on a roll and scored a whopping 162 points. UC Santa Barbara had 136 points, Cal State Long Beach 76 and Golden West College 33. San Diego State had Doug van Mierlo and Andrew Gahan finish first and second, while Golden West’s Keetin Devine finished fourth and Eddie Lester fifth for CSULB. A rematch at the Huntington Beach Pier will happen at the end of June.

Coming up this weekend is the surf contest put on by the Surfers Against Lou Gehrig’s Disease Surfing Alliance at the south side of the Huntington Beach Pier on Saturday. Catherine Vasquez put together this event last year, and it was a huge success for raising funds and bringing awareness to the ALS Assn. There will be a raffle and silent auction along with the contest, which has multiple age brackets.

RICK FIGNETTI is a 10-time West Coast champion and a longtime KROQ-FM surfologist. He owns a surf shop on Main Street. You can reach him at (714) 536-1058.