ESPN RISE

Sandy Huffaker

Gaby Ponce is one of the top female vert skaters in the world.

Gaby Ponce is drowsy. But with another long road trip ahead of her, there's no time for sleep now. She rolls out of bed, throws on some shorts and a T-shirt and grabs her skateboard on the way out.

Ponce's eyes are still droopy when she leaves her family's northern New Jersey home and gets into the car with her father, Ken. Ponce tosses her skateboard in the back seat and reclines in her chair.

With a long trip now underway, Ponce decides it's naptime. About an hour and a half and 80 miles down the New Jersey Turnpike later, Ponce wakes up when her dad tells her they're near their final destination -- Woodward Skate Park in Philadelphia.

Ponce perks up at the thought of flying down a vert ramp. She stretches out a bit as the car pulls up to the skatepark. Ponce hops out, eager to rip up the ramp.

This long trip is nothing new for the Tenafly (Tenafly, N.J.) junior. Ponce, one of the top female vert skaters in the world, often has to travel hundreds -- if not thousands -- of miles to find a good vert ramp.

Unlike the West Coast, where skate parks are as ubiquitous as smog in L.A., the East Coast doesn't have many big skate parks. So Ponce follows her passion 100 miles at a time.

"You're isolated on the East Coast," she says. "No one really knows about you, and you always have to travel a lot to go to skate parks versus Cali, where they have every single competition and there are a bunch of skate parks."

Living on the East Coast doesn't allow Ponce to skate in the many big-time competitions found mostly in Southern California. One opportunity, however, was just too big to pass up.

Ponce was invited to compete in the women's skate vert at this past summer's X Games in Los Angeles after one of her sponsors (Sk8Grl) sent videos of Ponce to X Games organizers. The videos, which Ponce edited herself, were so impressive that she was given entry into the event, where she finished fifth.

"I was pretty much just happy to get invited," Ponce says. "If you talk to anyone on the street they know about the X Games. It's the Olympics of skateboarding."

Ponce is starting to get some name recognition herself. She's become a local favorite at Woodward and is poised to take the West Coast-dominated skating world by East Coast storm.

"She's nasty," says Woodward general manager Bob DeMatteo. "She's not afraid to go big and she's not afraid to get hurt. When I first saw her skate I knew she had something special. Now she'll come through and rip the ramp every time."

To improve her skating ability and fulfill her massive potential, Ponce plans on moving to California after high school. The move will allow her to walk -- not drive 80 miles -- to skate parks.

"It's pretty time consuming," Ponce says of the travel. "It's so much fun for me, though, and it's worth it."

Grindin'

Four more skateboarders ripping it up:

RACHEL REINHARD
Reinhard, a senior from Doherty (Colorado Springs, Colo.), realized a longtime dream by copping an invite to the X Games this past summer. And once she got there, she wasn't content with just showing up. Competing in the skate street finals, Reinhard placed fourth, the best finish of any high schooler. It was the latest accomplishment in an illustrious career for Reinhard, who earlier this year placed second at the Maloof Money Cup.

LACEY BAKER
Baker, a senior at Northview (Covina, Calif.), has had her feet planted on a board since she was 4. And it shows. She has medaled at the X Games (a bronze in 2006), won the Maloof Money Cup (2008) and earned major sponsorships from the likes of Element and Billabong. Baker has also skated all over the world, including Canada and Australia.

LETICIA BUFONI
Brazil's skateboard sensation, Bufoni turned pro at age 14 in 2007 when she moved to Hollywood, Calif. Now home-schooled, Bufoni spent her first pro summer in 2008 tearing it up at the X Games, where she finished fifth in the skate street final. Bufoni is a member of the Osiris skate team and is also sponsored by Element.

JULIE KINDSTRAND
When Kindstrand needs skating advice, she can turn to one of the best coaches around -- her father, the legendary "Santa Ana" Dave Kindstrand. Julie, 15, certainly inherited some of his trickability. She showed her chops at the 2008 X Games, where she finished sixth in the women's vert. A home- schooled sophomore based in Santa Ana, Calif., Kindstrand's future will only get brighter as she gains more experience in the family trade.

Blue Crush

Four surfers who are anything but washed up:

CARISSA MOORE
Moore has been surfing for nearly her entire life, and it shows when she regularly beats seasoned vets. In March 2007, Moore placed second at the ASP's Roxy Pro Gold Coast event, twice defeating seven-time world champ Layne Beachley. Now a junior at Punahou (Honolulu, Hawaii), Moore won the Roxy Pro Junior in France this past summer.

COURTNEY CONLOGUE
Balancing high school responsibilities with international-caliber surfing isn't easy, but this Sage Hill (Newport Coast, Calif.) junior manages to pull it off. Never was that more evident than in 2008. In June, she captured the National Scholastic Surfing Association title in the ultra-competitive Open Division. And back in March, she won the Vans Pier Classic in California.

COCO HO
What's left for Ho to accomplish? The Elite Element Academy (Honolulu, Hawaii) senior won the 2008 Supergirl Junior Pro championship and placed third -- first among girls -- to lead Elite Element Academy to the coed NSSA national high school championship in June. The only thing left for Ho to win is the US Open of Surfing (she placed second in 2008).

MALIA MANUEL
Manuel came into the 2008 US Open of Surfing as a wild-card entrant and came out a legend. Just 14 years old at the time and with no Open experience, Manuel defeated an All-Star lineup (including the No. 1 surfer in the world at the time and a former world champ) head to head on her way to the championship. Now a sophomore at Kapa'a (Kapa'a, Hawaii), Manuel was the youngest winner in Open history.

Brian A. Giuffra covers high school sports for ESPNRISE.com.