Newswise — The University of North Carolina Wilmington Surf Club made history at the 2009 National Scholastic Surfing Association (NSSA)Championships with the best finish of any East Coast school in the history of the competition. The team placed second after competing in a sudden death surf-off against some of the top collegiate surfers in the nation during the competition held last week in Salt Creek, Calif.
UNC Wilmington team members and brothers Ben and Mike Powell of Ocean Isle, N.C. finished second and third, respectively, in the Men's College division. Drake Courie of Carolina Beach, N.C. finished fifth in the College Longboard division. UNCW tied with California State University - San Marcos at the end of the competition, requiring the teams to send out three of their best surfers for the sudden death round leading to UNCW's second place overall finish. The competition will be televised on Fox Sports at 8 p.m. Eastern time Friday, June 26.
The NSSA is the preeminent organization for scholastic surfers in the country. Each team participating in the national competition included six men, two women and one longboarder. Individual scores were combined to determine the team's overall score. "We are a young team with all our members returning next year. We will be the favorites to win nationals next year," said Dylan McNamara, team coach and assistant professor in the Department of Physics and Physical Oceanography at UNCW. He added, "Doing so well in nationals proves that UNCW is a great location for collegiate surfers as well as high quality surfers."
The NSSA requires all surfers to maintain at least a 2.0 grade point average. "Our team members are true scholar athletes, going beyond the required 2.0 GPA," said McNamara.
Other team members competing in the Men's College division were Ian Tillghman from Ocean City, Md., Sean Herman of Long Beach Island, N.J., Cody Leutgens of Topsail Beach, N.C. and Morgan O'Connell of Cape Hatteras, N.C. Liz Hausur and Hannah Frazelle, both of Wilmington, represented the team in the Women's College division.
The UNCW Surf Club qualified for the NSSA National Competition by winning the Eastern NSSA Championship in April. It had been 20 years since a team from UNCW participated in the national competition.
Dylan McNamara and team members Mike Powell and Drake Courie are available for phone interviews only at this time as they are out of town. To arrange a phone interview, contact Jamie Smith.
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