While you might mostly associate the spring sports season with baseball, softball, lacrosse, swimming, you’d be missing out on some great action if you did not know about the Mission Bay High surf team.
Led by head coach Greg Farrar, the Buccaneers have grown into quite the solid surfing program.
“I revived the team as an advisor in the fall of 2011,” Farrar said. “I have always coached athletics at MBHS (19 years). “I have coached freshmen and JV football my entire career. Also as alumni of MBHS, I coached JV baseball under Dennis Pugh for many years and coached the varsity for five years following his retirement. After baseball, I decided it would be a great time to revive the surf team.” As Farrar noted, “MBHS, Pacific, and Mission beaches have always been a hotbed for surfers for decades, so I felt I’d like to tap into our student body to see if we could begin to build a winner (The team competes in Division IV of the Scholastic Surf Series).”
The team season is a round-robin format. Mission Bay High surfs head-to-head against each team, each contest. The top three male and female surfers in each heat move on to individual rounds in the afternoon of the contest. “This season we finished second overall in our division with a 3-1-1 record. We narrowly missed being champs by coming up short 60-55 to El Camino High School (4-0) in the season finale,” Farrar stated. “What I acknowledged real quickly was that surfers are talented in many areas,” Farrar went to say. “Of the 16 male and female surfers on the team, 14 of them play at least one additional CIF sport. “Many play baseball, girls’ volleyball, water polo, field hockey, lacrosse, swimming, tennis, and some participate in our outstanding music program. Also, many manage part-time jobs as well as a demanding academic course load. “Many of my surfers elect to take our most rigorous IB curriculum. As a result, many of this year’s graduates are reaping the benefits,” Farrar added.
Farrar noted some of the top members of the team, including: * Pearl Moore – Finished third overall in women’s longboard. She has been in the top five of 40 longboarders every season. She participated in volleyball and led her team to CIF runner-up this year. She has been accepted to and will be attending UCLA next fall. * Doug Cromar – Joined the team this year (longboard). He is a CIF swimmer, water polo member, and golfer. IB student and will attend Cal Pol San Luis Obispo next fall. * Jacob Pangalos – An IB student and member of the MB short-boarders, he will attend SDSU next year and study business and psychology. According to Farrar, there is lots of talent returning for next year. On the boys’ side, Kieran Wills (perennial top 10 finisher), Andy Dorris, Brent Stoll, Andrew Feighan, Jake Halvin, Thomas Grigolite, Nicholas Campagna, Matthew Ferries and Dylan Upton all return for 2017. On the girls’ side, Ciara Gray and Amanda Moland will be back to lead the way next season. “I am looking forward to meeting incoming freshmen surfers from Pacific Beach Middle School’s team, the PB Locals,” Farrar said. “The MBHS team is self-supporting and needs to raise fees each year for participation in the Scholastic Surf Series, as well as provide hats, T-shirts and gear to the team members. We regularly have a fundraising booth at the PB Beachfest each year.” If you’re thinking that being a member of this team might be fun, surf on over to Farrar and get started.