Huntington Beach, Calif. 2005 USA surfing champions
Open men -- Dusty Payne, Hawaii
Open women -- Courtney Conlogue, California
Boys under 18 -- Kyle Ramey, Hawaii
Girls under 18 -- Erica Hosseini, California
Boys under 16 -- Kai Barger, Hawaii
Girls under 16 -- Christa Alves, Florida
Boys under 14 -- Riley Metcalf, California
Open longboard -- Christian Wach, California
Open bodyboard -- Chris Welpman, California


Huntington Beach, Calif., Christa Alves' won the girls under-16 title in the Surfing America USA Championships. Alves, a Cocoa Beach resident who recently turned 16, also earned a berth on the USA Surf Team for the second year in a row.

She will join Melbourne Beach's Connie Arias and Eddie Guilbeau when the Americans face international competition in October at the World Junior Championships at Huntington Pier.

It has taken Alves just two years of competitive surfing to establish herself among the country's top amateurs. She earned enough points at last weekend's event to earn one of four qualifying spots in the women's open division with a trio of Californians: Courtney Conlogue, Jenny Quam and Darlene Conolly.

Alves, entering her junior year at New Covenant Christian School in Melbourne, had earned one of 300 qualifying spots by accumulating enough points in Eastern Surfing Association competition this past season.

She arrived in California two weeks before the contest to become acclimated. It paid off when thunderous 7-foot waves struck the coastline early in the competition, then faded to waist-high "Cocoa Beach-sized" waves toward the final days.

In the four-person final, she defeated Virginia's Lindsey Bowman, New Smyrna Beach's Amy Nicholl and Hawaii's Leila Hurst.

Last year, the USA Surf Team earned a silver medal behind Australia at the inaugural World Games in Tahiti.

Arias, who also was on that squad, has tuned up this year with World Qualifying Series appearances in Peru and Australia, stating that this will be one of her last amateur events.

Guilbeau, who earned his USA Surf Team berth with a fifth-place finish, is ready for plans for the 38-member squad to cross-train in the mountains near Lake Tahoe.

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