Michelle Urkov might be best known on campus as a member of Orange Lutheran's championship girls water polo team.

The OLu junior and her teammates followed up last year's CIF Open Division title with a back-to-back championship this year, along with a CIF State Regional championship and an undefeated season.

But Urkov is making waves in another sport, as she will be heading to Hawaii in June to represent North America in the 2024 International Bodysurfing Association (IBSA) World Tour Finals. The 16-year old is one of four women on USA Bodysurfing's Team USA who will make the trip, and she is not only the sole representative from Orange County, she is the youngest athlete to qualify across both the men's and women's divisions.



Urkov didn't plan on competing as a bodysurfer. At age nine, she found her sport in water polo. But as a Huntington Beach resident, she also spends plenty of days at the beach. She participated in the Huntington Beach City Junior Lifeguards program every summer and is now a Huntington Beach City lifeguard, having completed her rookie season last year.

During her Junior Guards days, she and her friends would go out in the waves and bodysurf any chance they could. At age 13, she entered her first competition almost on a whim, a local event hosted by Chubascos Bodysurfing Association, and placed third in the 18 and under coed division. She had so much fun, she's been competing ever since.

Urkov's first love and main priority is still water polo, but there's something about being in the ocean that keeps her coming back to bodysurfing.
 
"Everyone has those personal things that they do when they want to get away from life or anything they're stressed about, so that's my outlet," said Urkov of bodysurfing. "I just I love being in the ocean. It's mentally cleansing, and I just like always being in the water."

Similar to surfing, bodysurfing is scored by judges based on criteria such as level of difficulty, wave set and size, length of ride and maneuvers completed. In competing at various bodysurfing events over the last several years, Urkov has seen a high level of success, including earning the 2022 Chubascos Women's Grand Champion title.

Her compiled scores from a series of qualifying events hosted in cities from Del Mar to Santa Cruz were high enough to place her at No. 3 in the USA Bodysurfing Women's rankings, which earned Urkov a trip to the IBSA World Tour Finals next month. While she doesn't intentionally train for her competitions, she acknowledges that her water polo experience helps her ride the waves.

"I feel like it just came naturally, always being at the beach," said Urkov. "It's one of my outlets, so I always just go out in the ocean and have fun…Having that strong stroke is very important."

Urkov's success has opened up some doors for her to partner with Yucca Fins and Matuse wetsuits to supply her the gear she needs to compete at her best.

And Urkov also receives a tremendous amount of support from both her family and the OLu community, including her water polo teammates and head coach Brenda Villa.

"Brenda has been super supportive, and she's super stoked that I'm doing it, so I really appreciate her," said Urkov. "And my parents, my brother and my grandma, all of them supporting me is super cool."

Her family will be with her as she heads to Oahu to compete June 4-14, her first time traveling to Hawaii. As one of the top female bodysurfers in the nation, Urkov will face off against some of the best from four other global regional areas, including Latin America, Polynesia (Hawaii & Tahiti), Europe/Africa, and Australia/Asia.
 
Urkov is hoping for a successful competition on the Hawaiian shores, and she already has her eye on qualifying again for the 2025 Finals next spring. Her longer range plans include playing water polo in college, and possibly representing her country and competing on the world's biggest athletic stage, as there is currently a push to see bodysurfing added as an Olympic sport to the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles. The experience would be a dream come true.

"Female body surfing is very small as of right now," said Urkov. "But it's such a cool sport, I think a lot of females would love to jump in and become part of USA Bodysurfing. 2028 is what they're aiming for, so if that position ever opened up, that would be amazing."