By Christie Nakagawa
Recently, Dana held its annual Surf Costume Contest on October 30 against the Aliso Niguel Wolverines at Salt Creek. The team put on their costumes and put points on the score cards, winning 7 of the 8 heats in the contest with four first‑place finishes. The total score was 23 to 17 for the girls, and the boys won 63 to 43. On October 27, there was a competition against Newport Harbor High School at 64th Street. The girls won their longboard and shortboard events, both 13 to 8, winning by 5 points. The boys lost their heats by 1 point, winning heat 3 men’s shortboard and heat 6 men’s longboard, but ultimately falling 73 to 74. There was a big win for Dana Hills against Laguna Beach on October 23 at the Creek. The boys won a total of 36 points while the opposing team had 32, and the girls had a major win with 13 points ahead of Laguna Beach for a total of 32. Sunny Walder, Stella Gottron, Liam Gottron, Waylon Schenkenberger, Jacob Brown, and Gavin Lewandowski were the surfers who contributed to this big win. Dana Hills had two major surf contests with San Clemente this month. The most recent was an away competition on October 10 at T Street, where San Clemente boys won by 14 points and the girls by 9 points. Liam Gottron and Waylon Schenkenberger won the boys longboard event, and in the girls longboard event, Stella Gottron and Sunny Walder won by 1 point. The boys scored 27 points while the girls had 21. Dana’s surf team had a good home competition on October 2. At Salt Creek, the boys tied with San Clemente, which was a win for the team. The boys’ shortboard team won two‑thirds of the heat against “arguably the best team in the nation,” which is impressive. The girls team lost, but they won the longboard event, finishing 9 points behind San Clemente with 21 to 30. The boys’ team tied 34‑34. Noah Rodgers, Stella Gottron, and Sunny Walder were mentioned to have a good wave. Even though they had a good competition, there were a few setbacks including the waves, self‑confidence, and being down a few people.