“If Taj Lindblad isn’t careful his little sister’s going to knock him right off the podium.”
That was the lede to the first Grom of the Week story I wrote about Sawyer Lindblad in the local San Clemente Times back in 2017. She’d just gotten third place in the Open Girls division at an NSSA contest at Seaside Reef and a very respectable second-place finish in the Open Super Girls. It didn’t take Sawyer to outgrow the Grom of the Week column, or the NSSA for that matter.
Seven years down the the WSL has anointed Sawyer the 2024 Rookie of the Year. She joins fellow San Clemente surfer Crosby Colapinto at the tip of the spear when it comes to the next generation on the Championship Tour. Yes, we knew this was coming for both surfers base on the end of the year leaderboard, but it’s always nice to make it official.
“I had a goal of being Rookie of the Year this year, and I’m so happy I was able to accomplish it,” Sawyer said in the WSL’s announcement. “Some challenges I faced this year was having to surf waves like Pipe and Teahupo’o. I’ve never surfed waves like that in my life and it was a really fun challenge and also really intimidating at times. But, I was happy to get past those fears and get some of the best waves of my life.”
True to her Rookie of the Year form, it was actually spots like Pipe, Teahupo’o and Western Australia where Sawyer shined the brightest. The 19-year-old goofy-footer made her first final at Margaret River and went on to notch a nine-point ride in Tahiti. Finishing the season ranked eighth in the world, she’d also make the final in Brazil, where she lost to eventual world champ and longtime friend Caity Simmers.
As for Colapinto, watching his brother, Griffin, make the WSL Finals in their backyard at Lowers was motivation enough to exceed his potential this year. Crosby jumped on tour with childhood friends Cole Houshmand and Kade Matson, and together, they took to the road. Crosby’s breakthrough came in the third event of the year in Portugal, where he finished in third place. He also would make the quarterfinals in El Salvador later in the year. Meanwhile, Houshmand finished 15th on the leaderboard, while Matson dropped off at the mid-season cut.
“Being in a rookie class this year that was strong with Cole, Kade, Eli, and Jacob Willcox and getting to be on top is really cool. I think one of the biggest highlights was Portugal, just because the Mid-season Cut was coming up, the pressure was on, and I made it to the Semifinals. Griffin was in the other Semifinal and he made it to the Final. It got really close to us having a man-on-man Final.
Going back to his Grom of the Week days, in 2016, when Crosby was only 15, I wrote, “To say performance surfing runs deep in the Colapinto family is an understatement. The family runs a surf cam and private surf school in town, and older brother Griffin, already a national champion, is on track to be one of America’s brightest world tour prospects in the years to come. No doubt Crosby won’t be far behind him.”
I’d have to check the stats, but this may be the first time one city has had both the men’s and women’s Rookie of the Year. Somebody out there prove me wrong. Whatever the case, seems like Sawyer and Crosby have most certainly lived up to the hype and will undoubtedly keep pushing the sport of surfing forward.
Related: Erin Brooks, Sawyer Lindblad Headline San Clemente Girls Surf Day