Santa Cruz Surf Lifesaving Association turned in several stellar performances at the\u00a02026 United States Lifesaving Association (USLA) National Junior Lifeguard Championships in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Nico Van der Meer, Caetano Dawson, Drake Harper, and Kai Brick shined for SCSLA\u2019s Boys\u2019 U19 roster.<\/p>\n
Van der Meer and Dawson teamed up for first place in the Boys\u2019 U19 board rescue race. They also teamed with Dylan Zucker (Hampton Lifeguard Assoc.) and Colin Stueber (Jones Beach) for first place in the Boys\u2019 U19 rescue race.<\/p>\n
Van der Meer also took second in run-swim-run, fourth in the Ironperson, and fifth in the surf race.<\/p>\n
Harper took second in the Ironperson, fourth in the surfski, seventh in beach flags, and 15th in the run-swim-run.<\/p>\n
Dawson took second place in beach flags, and Brick was fifth in surfski, and ninth in the Ironperson.<\/p>\n
Brick and Harper took seventh in the board rescue race.<\/p>\n
Isla Cooper, Finley Dobkin, Zoe Pochet, and Camille Cortazzo shined for SCSLA\u2019s Girls\u2019 U19 roster.<\/p>\n
Cooper took first in surfski, second in Ironperson, and seventh in board race;\u00a0Dobkin took second in board race, third in surfski, and fourth in Ironperson;\u00a0Pochet was fourth in both surfski and board race, and seventh in Ironperson; and\u00a0Cortazzo was sixth in surfski, eighth in Ironperson, and ninth in board race.<\/p>\n
Dobkin and Pochet teamed up for third in the board rescue race. Cortazzo and Cooper took sixth.<\/p>\n
The local quartet took sixth in the rescue race.<\/p>\n
In the Boys\u2019 A Division, for athletes ages 14 to 15, several SCSLA guards were rewarded for their amazing efforts.<\/p>\n
Felix Cozen, Nakai Vazquez-Lazo, and Roxon Fusari took first in the board relay, and Louie Van Der Meer and Vazquez-Lazo teamed with Skyler Carroll (Santa Barbara Lifeguard Assoc.) for first in surf teams.<\/p>\n
Van Der Meer, Carroll, and Kes Harper took second in the board relay.<\/p>\n
Fusari took first in the board race, and Harper took second in the beach run, seventh in board race.<\/p>\n
Vazquez-Lazo, Fusari, Vazquez-Lazo, and Fusari took third in the rescue race.<\/p>\n
Cozen also took fourth in the board race. Vazquez-Lazo took fifth in both the Ironguard and board race, eighth in the surf race, and ninth in the run-swim-run.<\/p>\n
Van Der Meer took eighth in both the board race and run-swim-run, and ninth in the Ironguard.<\/p>\n
In the Girls\u2019 A Division, Avery Quilici, Alaia Cerdas, Ila Dawson, and Eva Holmlund shined for SCSLA.<\/p>\n
Quilici, Cerdas, and Dawson took third in the board relay, and Holmlund took third in the beach run. Cerdas teamed with Skylar Osborne (California State Lifeguard Assoc.) and Maddilynn Scott (Galveston Lifesaving Association) for third in the surf team.<\/p>\n
Quilici took fifth in beach flags.\u00a0Dawson took third in the board race and 10th in beach flags, and\u00a0Cerdas and Dawson took eighth in the rescue race.<\/p>\n
In the Boys\u2019 B Division, for athletes ages 12 to 13, SCSLA\u2019s Thys Van Der Meer took third in board race, Ironguard, and surf teams, seventh in the run-swim-run, and eighth in the surf race.<\/p>\n
Van Der Meer and SCSLA\u2019s Zolen Vazquez-Lazo teamed with Maxwell Forister (LA County Surf Life Saving Assoc.) for fourth in the board relay.<\/p>\n
Van Der Meer took Vazquez-Lazo took seventh in the rescue race<\/p>\n
SCSLA had a huge girls contingent excel in the B Division, including Isla Fusari, Claire Conger, Nava Garaway, Isabella Goldfield, Genevieve \u201cEvie\u201d Hearn, Beau French, Claire Brandt, and Harlow Ray.<\/p>\n
Fusari took first in both beach flags and board race. Conger took second in Ironguard, third in the surf race, and sixth in run-swim-run. Garaway took second in the board race and fifth in beach flags.<\/p>\n
Conger and Goldfield took second in the rescue race, and\u00a0Goldfield, Conger, and Garaway took second in the board relay.<\/p>\n
Hearn, French, and Fusari took third in the board relay, and\u00a0Conger, Goldfield, and Hearn took third in surf teams.<\/p>\n
Ray took third in beach flags, seventh in the beach run,<\/p>\n
Hearn and Brandt took fifth in the rescue race.\u00a0Goldfield took seventh in run-swim-run, eighth in Ironguard, and 10th in the board race.<\/p>\n
Brandt took 11th in run-swim-run,\u00a0Hearn took 10th in Ironguard, and French\u00a0 took 10th in beach flags.<\/p>\n
Leo and Luca Gigliotti and Zoe Baxter represented SCSLA in the C Division, for guards ages 9-11.<\/p>\n
Leo Gigliotti teamed with Clark Blanch and Nick Weisenborn (LA County Surf Life Saving Assoc.) for second in the surf teams.<\/p>\n
Leo and Luca Gigliotti teamed with James Bahel (Hampton Lifeguard Assoc.) for third in the board relay.<\/p>\n
The Gigliottis also took fourth in the rescue race.<\/p>\n
Luca Gigliotti took fifth in Ironguard and sixth in the board race.<\/p>\n
Baxter took third in the board race and eighth in beach run.<\/p>\n
Baxter teamed with\u00a0Susanna Selna (California State Lifeguard Assoc.) and Clara Forister (LA County Surf Life Saving Assoc.) for fourth in surf teams.\u00a0Baxter also teamed with Selna for seventh in the rescue race.<\/p>\n
College baseball<\/p>\n
Subramanian commits: Cabrillo sophomore Kieran Subramanian has committed to NCAA Division I San Jose State University.<\/p>\n
The 6-foot-3, 215-pound right-handed pitcher, a Valley Christian High alum and Ohlone College transfer,\u00a0sat out 2025 after undergoing Tommy John surgery. He pitching in 13 games for the Seahawks (16-24 overall, 4-16 Coast Conference South Division) last season, including 11 starts, and posted a 5-4 record and 4.72 ERA over a staff-high 55.1 innings.<\/p>\n
The Spartans (24-27, 11-13) tied for sixth in the Mountain West Conference.<\/p>\n
Surfing<\/p>\n
Queen Of The Point:\u00a0Santa Cruz\u2019s London Lorber took first in the 14-16 age division at the Queen Of The Point women\u2019s longboarding competition in Malibu on June 26-28.<\/p>\n
Several other Santa Cruzans competed in the event. Zoey Howland (17-19) and Darla Carolyn Chenin (30s) took second in their respective division. Healey Skelton (17-19) took fifth and Sarah Cipollina (40-59) took sixth.<\/p>\n
SC native Tandem Hayden (40-59) took fourth, and Capitola native Joan Bush (60+) took sixth.<\/p>\n
Running<\/p>\n
Rock Tahoe Half Marathon: Santa Cruz\u2019s Alan Quintero took eighth out of 1,439 runners in the 2026 Rock Tahoe Half Marathon on June 14. He finished in 1:24:00.<\/p>\n
Dylan Bonfigli of Zephyr Cove, Nevada, took first in 1:20:23.<\/p>\n
Reporting Scores<\/p>\n
Coaches are encouraged to report scores and highlights to sports@santacruzsentinel.com following games. Please include your name and contact number in the email.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Santa Cruz Surf Lifesaving Association turned in several stellar performances at the\u00a02026 United States Lifesaving Association (USLA) National…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":424959,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[169419,169457,169433,169432,169443,169450,169421,169427,169444,169439,169449,169453,169422,169435,169428,169425,553,169442,169445,169454,169434,169441,169424,169438,61426,169423,169446,61425,169431,169447,169429,169440,169420,169430,8711,88,90,89,169418,169456,169451,169455,13006,169436,169448,169426,169452,169437],"class_list":["post-424958","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-jose","tag-2026-united-states-lifesaving-association-usla-national-junior-lifeguard-championships-in-fort-lauderdale","tag-439-runners-in-the-2026-rock-tahoe-half-marathon","tag-alaia-cerdas","tag-avery-quilici","tag-beau-french","tag-cabrillo-sophomore-kieran-subramanian-commits-to-ncaa-division-i-san-jose-state","tag-caetano-dawson","tag-camille-cortazzo","tag-claire-brandt","tag-claire-conger","tag-colege-baseball","tag-darla-carolyn-chenin","tag-drake-harper","tag-eva-holmlund","tag-felix-cozen","tag-finley-dobkin","tag-florida","tag-genevieve-evie-hearn","tag-harlow-ray","tag-healey-skelton","tag-ila-dawson","tag-isabella-goldfield","tag-isla-cooper","tag-isla-fusari","tag-jim-seimas","tag-kai-brick","tag-leo-gigliotti","tag-local-roundup","tag-louie-van-der-meer","tag-luca-gigliotti","tag-nakai-vazquez-lazo","tag-nava-garaway","tag-nico-van-der-meer","tag-roxon-fusari","tag-running","tag-san-jose","tag-san-jose-headlines","tag-san-jose-news","tag-santa-cruz-surf-lifesaving-association","tag-santa-cruzs-alan-quintero-took-eighth-out-of-1","tag-santa-cruzs-london-lorber-took-first-in-the-14-16-age-division-at-the-2026-queen-of-the-point-womens-longboarding-competition-in-malibu","tag-sarah-cipollina","tag-surfing","tag-thys-van-der-meer","tag-zoe-baxter","tag-zoe-pochet","tag-zoey-howland","tag-zolen-vazquez-lazo"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424958","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=424958"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424958\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/424959"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=424958"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=424958"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=424958"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}