The Cougars Surf Team brought the heat this summer in Salt Creek, Dana Point, California at the 2016 National Scholastic Surfing Association’s National Championship which lasted from June 11-13.

The Cougars placed 15th in the nation with a total score of 17.

Tim Varner, a transfer student from Palomar, placed sixth in College Longboard with a score of 6.97. This was Tim’s first time surfing since his ankle surgery on the May 21 of this year.

The team’s most important goal for the Championship; to have fun and become closer with each competition.  “We are trying to be fair and make sure everyone gets to surf. We are not so much concerned about winning state championships as we are making sure everyone has fun,” Varner said.

Varner exceeded his personal goal of competing in a competition and won his first heat back, taking him straight to the finals where he placed 6th. “I was stoked. I wasn’t expecting anything but I got a huge trophy and I’ve never gotten a trophy for surfing before. It was pretty cool.”

Varner started surfing at the age of eight but hadn’t surfed competitively until recently. In the fall 2015, Tim joined the CSUSM surf team and has enjoyed it ever since.

“I was never really involved in school before, but now I have something to look forward to instead of just going to classes … it’s awesome.”

Though Varner has been surfing since he was young, he accredits his fellow longboarder Aaron for being a source of help when it comes to competing and learning the right ways to score points.

“I definitely learned a lot from [Kinberg] this year, I didn’t know how to surf in competitions before … and he showed me what I need to be doing.”

Varner’s goal for the upcoming season is to become more unified as a team, supporting and taking care of each other. “Personally, I want to work on creating more unity within the members of the surf team … make sure we have a good setup, making sure everyone wants to stay and support each other”

Club officer Colton Tisch’s hopes to succeed with his team and to make the team perform better at competitions. Tisch wants to “better organize practices and running heats at these practices that simulate each contest.”

The Surf Team practices every weekend before a big competition, but the members individually surf at least two to three times a week, if not more. Oceanside to Cardiff is their normal surfing range for practices, spending most of their days at the beach.

The surf team’s biggest rivals are Point Loma Nazarene University and San Diego State University. Despite the tough competition, the most important part of every event is to have fun and learn from the experience.

“At the events the team always enjoys each other. We are a big family at the end of the day” Tisch said.

The National Championships were a great way to end an amazing season, and fellow Cougars can look forward to more exciting events to come for CSUSM’s Surf Team.