Pitz ready for international event

It’s led up to this, the hours and hours that Taylor Pitz has spent in the water perfecting her craft.

Next month it will be go time for Pitz on the world stage.

Pitz, a junior at Laguna Beach High, was named to the PacSun USA Surf Team. She will be on the Girls’ Under 18 team for the upcoming Quiksilver International Surfing Assn. World Junior Surfing Championships. The prestigious contest will go down beginning Jan. 18 in Piha, New Zealand.

Pitz has been on the national team three years running, but this year she will take a bigger role. She’s no longer an alternate, but part of the four-girl team that also includes Courtney Conlogue of Santa Ana, Kaleigh Gilchrist of Newport Beach and Lakey Peterson of Santa Barbara.

“It’s been a real big goal of mine,” Pitz said. “I’m excited to get to compete.”

She made the final cut as a group of the 20 best Under-18 surfers was whittled down to 12, after training camps in Huntington Beach, Oceanside, San Diego and Santa Cruz.

Pitz said she’s never been to New Zealand but she’s definitely looking forward to it. Last year, the World Juniors were in Ecuador at a break called La Fae. The United States placed fourth, a cumulative team score that also includes results from boys’ Under 18s and Under 16s.

Australia won the team title.

Coach Ian Cairns, also a Laguna Beach resident, made the recommendations for this year’s final team.

In August, Cairns led the U.S. to the gold medal at the Billabong ISA World Surfing Games in Costa Rica, their first since 1996.

Conlogue won the women’s open division to help the cause.

“He’s a really awesome coach,” Pitz said. “Everyone’s really come a long way this year. He’s really helpful and I think he also motivates us to try our hardest. He’s pretty critical and you don’t want to come back in knowing you did something wrong.”

Cairns definitely knows Pitz. On Wednesday evening, she was baby-sitting as he and his wife, Alisa, went out to dinner. Alisa Cairns, who like her husband is a former pro, is the assistant coach on the Breakers’ surf team, so she has also gotten to see Pitz’s talents.

Pitz has been a mainstay for the high school team. She’s been the girls’ shortboard champion in the South Coast League for two years running and the team MVP all three years.

Ian Cairns didn’t start coaching Pitz, however, until he took over the U.S. team in August.

“I think she’s made some big improvements in her surfing,” Ian Cairns said. “Her surfing is consistent with the style I’m looking for, which is more mature and powerful. She’s really focused and aggressive. She’s really a sweet girl on the beach, but when she gets out there, she goes for it hard.”

Cairns said he has worked with Pitz with driving forward more on her board while riding waves.

“She had too much weight on the back foot,” he said. “She’s made big improvements in the last few months.”

Cairns wasn’t the coach when the team took fourth in Ecuador last year, and he knows team Australia has been a powerhouse at the event. But he doesn’t mind it.

“I really love the idea of being an underdog,” Cairns said. “I don’t believe you ever go into an event with any intention other than to win.”

The event in New Zealand will be hed on a beach break, so Team USA has been practicing on beach breaks, as well.

“Hopefully, we’ll be ready,” Pitz said. “I think we have a really great team this year. If we work hard and everyone really focuses, we have a good shot at taking gold.”

The event is scored by taking the top three members of each four-person group. Conlogue finished second individually in girls’ Under 18s last year.

Representing the United States in boys’ 18s are Conner Coffin, Evan Thompson, Evan Geiselman and Andrew Doheny. Boys’ Under 16s competitors include Kolohe Andino, Jake Halstead, Trevor Thornton and Parker Coffin.