“Dude, surf’s up!” and, “Man, that was totally gnarly!” are phrases typically associated with surfers. How’s this one for you: “Eleven-time national champions.”

The UCSB surfing team won the National Scholastic Surfing Association Championship, held at Salt Creek, Calif. on June 22-23, for the 11th time since 1985. Shortboarder Liz Clark and bodyboarder Manuel Melian helped propel their team to a 92-88 victory over Mira Costa College with their individual wins in the women’s division and the bodyboarding division, respectively.

Shortboarder Bart Templeman placed fifth in the men’s division, and shortboarder and team co-captain Nicole DeLeon placed sixth in the women’s division. Dylan Mignogna and Matt Rickard placed third and fourth in the longboard division.

After such a successful season last year, the team is looking forward to another exceptional year.

“I think we’ll kick ass,” DeLeon said when asked about the team’s outlook for the 2002-2003 season. “We have had a lot of interest from incoming students that looks very promising.”

DeLeon is the first female to become co-captain of the surfing squad. DeLeon competes in the women’s division, one of four categories the surfing team competes in. The other categories include the men’s division, longboarding and bodyboarding.

The team is also broken up into three divisions: the A, B and C teams. The final roster is made after tryouts. The first tryout was held Oct. 5, and the second one will be held Oct. 12 at Sands Beach. Since the team only has three returning female surfers and between five and 10 returning male surfers, it is hoping to see some great surfers come out to Sands for the second round of tryouts.

For the upcoming season, the team’s biggest competition will be Long Beach State, whose captain is the brother of one of the members of the UCSB men’s team, Todd Barbosa. The already existing rivalry between UCSB and LBSU seems like it will only be exacerbated by the sibling rivalry that is likely to occur on the water between these brothers.

“It’s going to be a tight year between [UCSB] and Long Beach,” Barbosa said. “It’s gonna be a challenge to win Nationals, but we are looking forward to having a very talented team who all look forward to representing UCSB well at Nationals.”

The feeling that surrounds the team members is that they are going to win it all and win it big. They hope to have a better record than last year’s 2-4 record in regular competition.

“We’re gonna win it,” Barbosa said when asked how he thought they would do at Nationals this year.

The surfing team is more than just a bunch of hot bodies in tight wetsuits – the members are national champions who look forward to defending the title

For more information about the surfing team, please e-mail .