Local Surfer Coty Luetgens Becomes National Surfing Champ

The Topsail Advertiser reports that 18 year old Coty Luetgens won the men's national surfing championship in Huntington Beach California. TA reports:

Local surf competitor Coty Leutgens recently took the men's title in the 2008 Surf Industry Manufacturers Association Surfing America U.S.A. Championships.

Leutgens, 18, grew up in Surf City and learned to surf at a very young age. He began competing in Eastern Surfing Association contests around age 8, and said he was hooked immediately. He's now a sophomore at University of North Carolina-Wilmington, majoring in communications, and the school surf team captain.

The championships were held Aug. 19 to 24, in Huntington Beach, Calif. The competition pits the best surfers out of five districts from around the U.S. together to find U.S. surfing champs. The men's final for ages 18 to 29 was one of nine categories to compete.

Though Leutgens had been eligible to compete in the SIMA competition before, this was the first year he was financially able to enter the championship.

"This is pretty much as high as it goes as far as amateur competitions is concerned ... so it's really an honor for me. I won the (2008 Mid-Atlantic Regionals) in South Carolina, so I had some confidence going into it," said Leutgens, who practiced in California waves for two weeks before the competition. He also trained with the ESA All Star and the U.S teams.

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