FORMER WORLD CHAMPIONS AND UP-AND-COMING TALENT UNITE
HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif (December 28, 2010) – With just a week to go before the start of the holding period for the 2011 Katin Pro-Am Team Challenge presented by Sports 1 Marketing, the initial roster of teams has been announced. As an Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) specialty event, this year’s contest will commence for two consecutive days of competition between Jan. 4-9, 2011 on the north side of the Huntington Beach Pier.
Seal Beach’s Chris Waring, who won the individual title last year and led Team Reef to a team victory, will return to defend his title this year, but will be fronting Team Dragon. Joining Waring on Team Dragon will be Sean Marceron (Leucadia, CA), USA Surf Team member Taylor Clark (Encinitas, CA) and Matt Beacham(Carlsbad, CA).
Archived photo of former champion Tom Curren
With the same unique format of the historic event conceived by Nancy Katin, each team will consist of four athletes who will compete both individually and as teams in an open-draw four-man heat format. Surfers will receive points in each heat for their individual performance (4 points for first, 3 points for second, 2 points for third and 1 point for fourth). The teams and individuals earning the highest cumulative point totals will share in more than $25,000 worth of cash and prizes with payouts going to the top four teams and top eight individuals.
The 17th St/Mauli Ola Foundation team, a new entry this year, is looking solid with former ASP World Champion, Hawaiian surfing legend and previous Katin Pro-Am Champion Sunny Garcia (North Shore, HI), former ASP World Tour surfers Kalani Robb (North Shore, HI) and Teddy Navarro (Huntington Beach, CA), and Ryan Carlson (Huntington Beach, CA).
Team Hurley, who won the event in 2009 and finished runner-up in 2010 is looking strong again this year with former World Tour veteran Timmy Curran(Oxnard, CA), Yadin Nicol (AUS), Brad Ettinger (Huntington Beach, CA) and Michael Dunphy (Virginia Beach, VA) on tap.
Always a strong contender, Team Rip Curl will match the old school talents of legendary three-time ASP World Champion and former Katin Pro-Am Champion Tom Curren (Santa Barbara, CA) with the progressive surfing of young up-and-comers Dillon Perillo (Malibu, CA), Quinn McCrystal(Huntington Beach, CA) and Colin Moran (Costa Mesa, CA).
Four Huntington Beach High School alums, two-time Katin Pro-Am team winner Jeff Deffenbaugh, Micah Byrne, Ryan Turner and Brandon Tipton, will comprise Team Huntington Beach High School.
The complete current list of teams registered includes:
17TH ST/ MAULI OLA FOUNDATION
Sunny Garcia, Kalani Robb, Ryan Carlson, Teddy Navarro
ALADDIN
Evan Kane, Ryan Croteau, Ethan Carlston, Jack Boyes
ALPINESTARS
Nathaniel Curran, Jesse Heilman, Frank Tesoro, Tom Vos
ANALOG
Brightton Brandenburger, Bobby Okvist, Jason Harris, Nick Fowler
ARNETTE
Jarred Cassidy, Christian Saenz, Tyler Gunter, Eric Vallely
BANZAI BOWLS
Josh Hoyer, Tom Rezvan, Mike Morrissey, Victor Done
BILLABONG
Cody Thompson, TJ Barron, Jake Halstead, Chase Wilson
BODY GLOVE
Austin Ware, Blake Jones, Jamie Meistrel, Matt Pagan
BUELL WETSUITS
Adam Virs, Cory Arrambide, Josh Loya, Mike McCabe
DRAGON
Chris Waring, Sean Marceron, Taylor Clark, Ricky Whitlock, Loren Laglens (Alternate)
FILTRATE EYEWEAR
Matt McCabe, Killian Garland, Adam Lambert, Jake Davis
FOX
Andrew Gesler, Jesse Evans, Bud Freitas, Che Stang, Chris Drummy (Alternate)
GLAS
Richie Collins, Travis Beckmann, Jimmy Herrick, Willie Safreed, Sean Johnson (Alternate)
HUNTINGTON BEACH HIGH SCHOOL
Jeff Deffenbaugh, Micah Byrne, Ryan Turner, Brandon Tipton
HURLEY
Timmy Curran, Yadin Nicol, Brad Ettinger, Michael Dunphy
JACKS
Tanner Gudauskas, Dane Gudauskas, Shawn Ward, Jesse Steelman
KATIN
Johnny Norris, Alex Gullett, Kyle McGeary, Matt King
QUIKSILVER
Conrad Carr, Shea Perkins, Billy Hopkins, Derek Peters
RIPCURL
Tom Curren, Pat Curren, Taylor Brothers, Colin Moran, Frank Curren (Alternate), Nick Greeninger (Alternate)
RUSTY
Nate Yeomans, Sammy Orozco, Matt Beacham, Anthony Petruso
The event webcast, the first of the year, will feature live announcing from Peter Mel, PT, Dave Stanfield and Saxon Boucher, live scoring, special guests, on-beach interviews, giveaways, instant replays, highlight videos and more at Katinproam.com each of the two days of competition.
Special thanks to Katin Pro-Am Team Challenge sponsors: Katin USA, Sports 1 Marketing, Primo, Corralejo, Jack’s, Cushe, F.I.T.T. Energy,Café Rio, Power Balance, Hook Up, Futures Fins, Sandy’s Beach Grill, Duke’s, Faction Surfboards, Wahoo’s, Hilton Waterfront, Kicker Audio, Alpinestars and Surfing Magazine.
For more information, follow the action at facebook.com/KatinUSA and twitter.com/katinUSA.
About Katin
Kanvas by Katin was founded in 1959 by Nancy Katin in Surfside, Calif., when she and her husband Walter transformed a canvas boat cover business into one of the nation’s first surfwear brands, specializing in high quality surf trunks. Currently a core surf company, today the Katin brand is carried in surf shops and specialty stores throughout the U.S. and worldwide. More information is available at katinusa.com.
