Colton Larson : photo Jack McDaniel

NSSA Southwest Conference

Explorer Season Event #2
D Street, Encinitas
4 - 5 October 2008

Colton Larson Powered his way to the winners circle

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 8 October, 2008 : - - A building combo of Northwest and Southwest swells provided consistent 4-6 foot surf with bigger closed out sets.  With a lot of water pushing from the multiple swell energy, wave conditions at the D Street sandbar were moderately walled but there were many steep corners for the competitors to maximize their scoring potential.     

Colton Larson (Huntington Beach) was one of those who took full advantage of the solid, conditions and his strong maneuvers landed him his first win of the season.  Larson, who is in his senior year at Huntington Beach High School, is motivated on posting up some good results this season.  He won the final handily 12.5-9.5 over runner-up Brent Bowen.  Event #1 winner Cort Cespedes took third and Austin Rowe finished fourth. 

Larson has inched closer to Cespedes for the number one position in the Men's rankings.  A mere 10 points seperates the two going into event #3 where they will face off this weekend in Larson's home court.  In a super close Juniors final, the top three finishers were separated by a half point margin.  Dominic DiPietro (Carlsbad) celebrated his first win of the season edging out Derrick Disney and Cooper Jones. 

Event #1 winner Shayne Nelson placed fourth and will remain at the top of the ratings leaderboard.  Jake Halstead (La Jolla) took command of the Boys division for the second straight event.  Halstead’s explosive moves were rewarded with wins in every heat en route to his second win of the season.  Also worth noting is Halstead’s perfect heat win percentage as he has not lost a heat in Explorer Boys competition thus far. 

- -

Kanoa Igarashi (Huntington Beach) claimed his second Explorer victory and fourth win of the 2008-09 season.  In a super tight heat, Igarashi held off a tough challenge by runner up Jake Marshall to take the win by a slim half point margin.  Igarashi has been unstoppable in the Southwest Conference 12 & under categories with successive wins in Open Boys and Explorer Menehuene competition. 

Rick Takahashi (San Diego) got the broom out again pulling off his second consecutive two division sweep in the Masters and Seniors.  Rusty Phillipy (Cardiff-by-the-Sea) clinched his second straight win in the Super Seniors.  Chelsea Rauhut (Oxnard) and Melina Smith (San Clemente) locked up their first wins of the season in the Womens and Girls respectively. 

The Gillard Brothers battled it out for the top two places in Longboard for the second straight contest.  The brothers swapped places at this one with Mike scoring the win over Terry.   

The event’s highest scoring single ride was an outstanding 9.75 by Tim Senneff in the Masters Repercharge.  On one of the day’s better shaped sets, Senneff pushed his level, rifling off a series of three critical backside top turns on a churning, steep lefthander.The NSSA Southwest Conference is proud to have support from, No Fear, Nike 6.0, Huntington Surf and Sport, Surfing Magazine, WaveWatch, Sex Wax, Channel Islands Surfboards, S4 Optics and the Sugar Shack.   

COMING UP IN CALI:  Southwest Explorer #3 hits Surf City on October 11-12 at Huntington Beach’s Ninth Street sandbar.  The Gold Coast event #4 and Northwest event #2 will go off at Morro Rock on October 18-19.  The Southwest Conference will kick off the 2008-09 College Season with event #1 on October 18-19 at Blacks Beach in San Diego.  The Southwest Conference Open Season will resume with event #3 on October 25-26 on the south side of Huntington Beach Pier.   

Dominic DiPietro : photo Courtesy NSSA

EXPLORER MENS
1. Colton Larson-Huntington Beach 12.5
2. Brent Bowen-Hermosa Beach 9.5
3. Cort Cespedes-Encinitas 9.0
4. Austin Rowe-Cardiff 7.5

EXPLORER JUNIORS
1. Dominic DiPietro-Carlsbad 10.0
2. Derrick Disney-Cardiff 9.5
3. Cooper Jones-Encinitas 9.0
4. Shayne Nelson-Huntington Beach 6.5

EXPLORER BOYS
1. Jake Halstead-La Jolla 14.0
2. Taylor Clark-Encinitas 12.5
3. Kanoa Igarashi-Huntington Beach 11.0
4. Breydon Taylor-San Juan Capistrano 9.5

EXPLORER MENEHUENE
1. Kanoa Igarashi-Huntington Beach 13.5
2. Jake Marshall-Encinitas 13.0
3. Skip McCullough-La Jolla 9.0
4. Zack Clark-San Diego 5.0
5. Kody Clemmons-Carlsbad 4.5
6. Keone Betanzos-San Diego 4.0

EXPLORER MASTERS
1. Rick Takahashi-San Diego 13.0
2. Chris Munsterman-San Diego 11.0
3. Taichi Maruyama-Huntington Beach 8.5
4. Neil Bern-Carlsbad 7.5
5. Jeff Marder-San Clemente 7.0
6. Tim Senneff-Del Mar 4.5

EXPLORER SENIORS
1. Rick Takahashi-San Diego 13.5
2. Mike Gillard-Coronado 6.5
3. Scott Whitmer-Gardena 5.5 tiebreak
4. Rusty Phillipy-Cardiff by the Sea 5.5 tiebreak
5. Jeff Marder-San Clemente 5.0
6. Chad Logan-Long Beach 3.5 

EXPLORER SUPER SENIORS
1. Rusty Phillipy-Cardiff by the Sea 12.0
2. Mike Gillard-Coronado 10.0
3. Tim Senneff-Del Mar 9.0
4. Rick Fignetti-Huntington Beach 7.0
5. Kit Bartlett-Oceanside 6.0
6. David Winslow-Encinitas 5.5

EXPLORER WOMENS
1. Chelsea Rauhut-Oxnard 8.5
2. Natalie Anzivino-Torrance 7.5
3. Chloe Buckley-San Diego 7.0
4. Shelby Detmers-Newport Beach 6.5
5. Kaelin Bohl-Palos Verdes Estates 4.0
6. Moana Jenson-San Diego 3.5

EXPLORER GIRLS
1. Melina Smith-San Clemente 9.0
2. Shelby Detmers-Newport Beach 6.5
3. Harley Taich-La Jolla 6.0
4. Leah Pakpour-Laguna Beach 5.0
5. Kylie Loveland-Carlsbad 4.0
6. Paige Ortiz-Huntington Beach 3.5

EXPLORER LONGBOARD
1. Mike Gillard-Coronado 11.5
2. Terry Gillard-Imperial Beach 11.0
3. Chris Pompa-Laguna Hills 6.5
4. Brandyn Garske-San Diego 5.5
5. Brian Biggins-Brentwood 4.0
6. Connor Morey-Redondo Beach 3.0

www.nssa.org

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