LIKE MIKE
Kylan’s MJ Day a symbol of Surf’s meteoric rise
By Brandon Petersen
Sometimes the most important performance of the day doesn't start in the water.
It starts in a car, parked next to the pier, with the door still closed.
On Sunday at Huntington Beach — Westcliff's adopted home pier — Kylan Crapenhoft sat inside his car feeling miserable. Feverish. Drained. Unsure if he could even paddle out. The Warriors were alive in the NSSA collegiate contest, but barely. After Saturday's grind and a handful of setbacks, every remaining point on Sunday was going to matter.
Head coach Lucas Taub knew it. He told the team as much the night before.
"Every point is going to count on Sunday," Taub said. "And it just showed that it really did. It came down to the last couple heats."
For Crapenhoft, that message became personal.
The Flu Game Under the Pier
Crapenhoft is a longboarder, which means he already lives on a slightly different schedule than most of the lineup. While Westcliff's iconic Saturday sessions are captured by Sanjay Joshi's camera — images that fuel the program's social presence — Sunday belongs to the longboarders. Different rhythm. Different crowd. Less spotlight.
But always the same commitment.
When Taub walked up to Crapenhoft's car Sunday morning, he didn't talk about scores or pressure. He talked about history.
"Some of the best athletes in the world have performed at the highest level when they were sick," Taub said. "Because you're not thinking. You're just out there doing it. Battling."
He gave it a name.
"The Flu Game."
Michael Jordan did it in the 1997 NBA Finals. Thirty-eight points. Fever. Ring. Legend.
Taub fired up his surfer the same way.
"I told him, 'Come on Kylan, it's the flu game. Let's go.'"
Crapenhoft paddled out anyway.
In his opening heat, he finished second, posting a 9.76 and advancing — worth five critical team points. He bowed out in the next round, but not before adding three more. Eight points total.
Westcliff won the contest by two.
"That's value points," Taub said. "And he really pulled through for us."
That's why this was Kylan's MJ Day.
Every Point Has a Price
Team surfing doesn't reward flash. It rewards accumulation.
In the NSSA scoring system, it's simple and unforgiving: First place earns six points. Second earns five. Third earns four. Fourth earns three. Fifth earns two. Sixth earns one. Every heat. Every round. No exceptions.
Miss one advancement and the math punishes you.
Last year, Westcliff learned that lesson the hard way. Jordy Nelson and Taylor Stacy both won individual national titles. The program was elite. But the team didn't finish the job.
But this year, they have been.
Jordy's being Jordy. Taylor is Taylor. Titus is gonna be Titus.
But this year, Westcliff is stacked up and down the roster, and last paddle out, they took their first NSSA competition – as a team.
"This one felt more meaningful," Taub said. "We really had to dig deep for this one. It didn't come easy."
This time, the Warriors didn't rely on one surfer to drive them.
Everyone's at the wheel.
Bella Answered the Call
The women's side entered Sunday unexpectedly short-handed, with Niyah Rosen unable to compete due to an injury sustained at practice Thursday. That reality reshaped the entire lineup. Less room for error. Fewer chances to hide.
AnnaBella Lopez didn't hide.
A first-year Warrior from Puerto Rico, Lopez was called upon and immediately delivered. She dropped one of the highest wave scores of the morning — an 8.5 — then advanced again, eliminating a Point Loma surfer in the process. When she finally bowed out, she finished third instead of fourth.
That difference, a single point, mattered.
Westcliff ended up beating PLU by two.
"Bella delivered," Taub said. "She battled until the end. That girl has passion. She has work ethic. She wants it."
Taylor Stacy, the reigning national champion, did what champions do — advancing deep and setting the standard. But it was Lopez's unexpected production that kept the women's total alive.
That's team surfing.
Jordy Being Jordy
Some things don't need explanation.
Jordy Collins won all six of his heats.
Six heats. Thirty-six points. No panic. No wasted waves.
"Our captain, man," Taub said. "He's just been such a huge part of this program and why we are where we are today."
Nelson has now finished first, second and first across the opening contests of the season. He doesn't chase moments. He manufactures them.
"Jordy will be Jordy," Taub said.
And the team builds around that certainty.
Titus Arrives Right on Time
If Nelson is the standard, Titus Santucci is the proof of concept.
Competing in his first contest with Westcliff, Santucci advanced all the way to the final, validating months of hype with discipline and preparation.
"You see that kid preparing for his heat an hour before," Taub said. "Watching his work ethic is really cool."
He finished fourth in the final, but his contribution went far beyond placement. He added points, presence, and belief.
"That was a huge performance," Taub said. "He delivered."
More Than Who's Left in the Water
By the final rounds, only two Warriors were still surfing.
The rest of the team showed up anyway.
"That was huge," Taub said. "That's family. That's what we're building here."
In the water. On the beach. At practice. On weekends. Under the lights of Fox News or Huntington Beach Pier at dawn, the culture doesn't waver, even when surfers are eliminated. Instead, it tightens.
"This wasn't about one person," Taub said. "Everyone was the difference maker."
Not a Fluke
When the totals were finalized, Westcliff University–Gold stood alone at the top with 129 points — two ahead of Point Loma Nazarene and seven ahead of Cal Poly SLO.
Two points.
The same margin created by a longboarder who didn't feel good but paddled out anyway.
"We're the No. 1 ranked team in all of California now," Taub said. "We've never been ranked this high. We're making noise. And we're not going away."
Recruits noticed. Meetings happened between heats. Momentum carried past the pier.
"This is just the setup for the years to come," Taub said.
When the Cameras Show Up
The noise didn't start on Sunday.
On Thursday, Westcliff Surf was already in the spotlight, hosting Fox 11 Los Angeles on the sand at Huntington Beach for an on-site interview that included multiple student-athletes, Athletic Director Cesar Sandoval-Rivas, and head coach Lucas Taub. The segment, which will air on an upcoming Fox broadcast, offered a glimpse into a program that's quietly becoming impossible to ignore.
For Taub, the timing mattered — not because of the cameras, but because of what followed.
"We had the Fox deal on Thursday, then we had a setback," Taub said. "But the way the team responded after that just shows who we are."
That response showed up in the water, in the math, and in the way the entire roster rallied — even after elimination — to support the final heats.
"We're making noise," Taub said. "And we're not going away."
Final Results
Women's Individual Results
- Lillie Kulber (UCLA)
- Keanna Miller (Cal Poly SLO)
- Syd Ott (Pepperdine)
- Isla Sexton (Cal Poly SLO)
Men's Individual Results
- Jordy Collins (Westcliff)
- Tanner Vodraska (CSUSM)
- Brayden Burch (SDSU)
- Titus Santucci (Westcliff)