NSSA Southwest Conference Open #5

NSSA
Church San Clemente 
15 - 16 November 2008

NSSA Southwest Conference Open #5

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 20 November, 2008 : - - The Southwest Conference Open Season #5 marked the midway point of the 2008-09 season.  The 5-star rated event meant valuable points were at stake and there was no better setting than pristine Church beach in San Clemente.

Beautiful, warm sunny weather and good 2-4 foot waves prevailed throughout the two day event.  The contest was fruitful for some and not for others as several upsets occurred with some of the top seeds knocked out of the competition early including Men’s leader Riley Metcalf and Juniors’ leader Jake Halstead.  

In the Men’s division, 15-year-old Luke Davis rose above a field of 60 sealing his second win of the season.  Davis met up in the final with Ian Crane, Ian Garcia and Conner Coffin who made a triumphant return to competition after being sidelined for two months with a knee injury. Crane surfed solidly throughout the event stepping up in the higher level Men’s category and Garcia was enjoying his best performance to date making his first finals appearance. 

However no one was able to halt the assault of the red-hot Davis who was reading the Church waves better than any of his opponents.  His polished style and flashy aerial executions were a step above locking in two excellent scores of 8.0 and 7.17 to handily win the final.  “It got a little smaller with the low tide but there are still a couple fun ones,” Davis said.  “I just tried to get the best waves.  I knew that would be crucial because everyone in the final is capable of winning. 

I’m stoked on taking first because it will push me up the ratings.”  As mentioned, number one ranked Riley Metcalf suffered a startling round one loss snapping a four event finals streak.  This left the door wide open for number two ranked Christian Saenz, who was trailing Metcalf by 280 points, to gain some serious ground. 

However Saenz didn’t quite capitalize as he fell victim to an interference call and was defeated in the quarterfinals.  He did pass Metcalf to take over the number one position with a mere 60 points separating the two.

There was a vibe of excitement in the Juniors division with the return of 15-year-old Conner Coffin.  The rising star from Santa Barbara got off to a hot start winning the season opener in Huntington Beach but then was held hostage with the knee injury for three consecutive events.  In his first contest back, Coffin looked close to full speed and exceeded expectations by winning the final in a 13.66-13.66 tiebreak decision over Taylor Thorne. 

Last weekend’s Explorer Juniors winner Derek Peters had his best Open result of the season placing third followed by Jared Thorne, who owns a string of four straight finals appearances and just came off a big victory at the Oceanside Open a couple weeks back.  Coffin, competing in two divisions, showed no signs of slowing down winning every preliminary round in the Open Men’s en route to a third place in the final and then nailing his second win of the season in the Juniors. 

“I felt pretty strong out there,” Coffin said after his victory.  “I just got back in the water a week ago and I’ve been surfing a lot the past week trying to get ready for the contest.  My knee feels really close to 100 percent.”

The victory will boost Coffin straight back up to the number one position with former ratings leader Jake Halstead dropping to seventh because of a round one shocker.  “I feel pretty good to be back in the ratings lead,” Coffin said after learning he was back on top.  “I’m just a little off being out of the water so long, but I’m getting it back a lot quicker than I thought.”

Kanoa Igarashi extended his remarkable domination of the 12 & under division clinching his fourth Open Boys win over finalists Jake Marshall, Nick Hdez, Kei Kobayashi, Addy Giddings and Colton Ward.  The 11-year-old Igarashi has stunned the conference and the nation by jumping out to a phenomenal 14-win record at mid-season.  Although struggling in his early preliminary rounds, Igarashi pulled it together locking in two solid scores of 8.17 and 6.0. 

“I was doing pretty bad in all my preliminary heats,” a relieved Igarashi said after the final.  “I had to go to the repercharge and I barely advanced out of it with a third place.  I just wasn’t getting good scores.  I really focused hard before the final. 

I’m just stoked I finally put it together.”  With five events remaining in the Open and six events in the Explorer, Igarashi is in a definite position to make a serious run at the current 21-win record.  He has also revealed that his game plan includes competing in the Gold Coast and Northwest Conferences for the rest of the season.

10-year-old Jake Marshall continued his incredible roll going undefeated thus far in the Mini Groms.  In the final, Marshall went up against Tyler Gunter, Kei Kobayashi, Ryland Rubens, Nolan Rapoza and Griffin Colapinto.  He showed amazing form locking in two excellent scores of 8.67 and 8.50 to clinch his fifth consecutive win.  

“The waves were really fun for the finals,”  Marshall said.  “The tide dropped out, so the rights were reeling and there were a couple good lefts out there also.  The final was really tight.  I was super nervous because Kei was winning with a 6 and 5 and I didn’t have any good scores.  Then I got a good, long right and got an 8 on it and that got my rhythm going.” 

Marshall’s surfing has been most impressive as he has racked up some meaningful stats through mid season.  He leads all Open Season surfers in scoring percentage totals in the finals averaging 15.73 points out of a possible 20.  For good measure, he also surfs up in the Boys and Juniors and made his first Boys final taking an impressive runner-up decision. 

“I haven’t really done too well in the Boys but I made the final this time and I’m really happy to get second place,” Marshall said.  “I also surf the Juniors because it’s super competitive and you can surf the event Saturday and get the waves dialed in.”

In the Women’s division there have been some surprising outcomes this season with an interesting trend going on.  Over the past four events, four different winners have stepped up to the podium and the race is tightening up.  The Women’s final featured Chandler Parr, Catherine Clark, Anise Guzman and Taylor Pitz who are all rising up-and-comers. 

Defending Conference Champion Courtney Conlogue was competing in the WQS 6-Star in Hawaii and her absence left the door wide open for a ratings shakeup.  Parr, 16-years-old from Santa Monica, collected her first win of the season in a 12.33-11.00 decision over runner-up Catherine Clark.  In the 25-minute final, she jumped out to an early lead posting a high scoring 8.0 on her second ride and expanded her lead throughout the heat. 

“It was really fun but inconsistent in our final,” Parr said.  “I just tried to get a really good one right off the bat because I wanted to get a solid score on the board.  I was really lucky to get two really good ones.”  Parr has been knocking on the door all season and it was clear that she was due for a victory. 

“It’s my first Open win, so I’m really stoked,” Parr said.  “I came really close to beating Courtney at the Oceanside Open but it’s good to win this ‘double A’ event because I missed the last contest and I knew I needed to come back.”  Catherine Clark leapfrogged to the ranking’s number one status thanks to her second place showing.

Scott Brandenburg continued his command of the Longboard division posting two excellent wave scores of 8.83 and 7.83 in the final.  It was the fourth straight victory for the 17-year-old San Clemente local.  Runner up Shaun Thompson put out a good effort nailing an impressive 7.5 score but needed a high 9.0 wave to pass Brandenburg.  The win gives Brandenburg a huge 1,500 point ratings lead.  

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, No Fear Energy Drink and the Sugar Shack.

COMING UP IN CALI:  The Gold Coast Conference will continue with a doubleheader weekend at C Street on November 22-23.  Happy Thanksgiving from all of us at the NSSA!

RESULTS

OPEN MENS
1. Luke Davis-Capistrano Beach 15.17
2. Ian Crane-San Clemente 12.83
3. Conner Coffin-Santa Barbara 12.50
4. Ian Garcia-Carlsbad 8.00

OPEN JUNIORS
1. Conner Coffin-Santa Barbara 13.66 tiebreak
2. Taylor Thorne-Newport Beach 13.66 tiebreak
3. Derek Peters-Huntington Beach 12.17
4. Jared Thorne-Newport Beach 12.00

OPEN BOYS
1. Kanoa Igarashi-Huntington Beach 14.17
2. Jake Marshall-Encinitas 11.83
3. Nic Hdez-Santa Cruz 9.84
4. Kei Kobayashi-San Clemente 9.33
5. Addy Giddings-San Clemente 6.83
6. Colton Ward-San Clemente 6.00

OPEN MINI GROM
1. Jake Marshall-Encinitas 17.17
2. Tyler Gunter-Newport Beach 13.16 tiebreak
3. Kei Kobayashi-San Clemente 13.16 tiebreak
4. Ryland Rubens-San Diego 10.16
5. Nolan Rapoza-Long Beach 6.34
6. Griffin Colapinto-San Clemente 5.50

OPEN WOMENS
1. Chandler Parr-Santa Monica 12.33
2. Catherine Clark-Ventura 11.00
3. Anise Guzman-Huntington Beach 10.00
4. Taylor Pitz-Laguna Beach 8.66 

OPEN LONGBOARD
1. Scott Brandenburg-San Clemente 16.66
2. Shaun Thompson-Huntington Beach 12.67
3. Michael Maddox-Newport Beach 9.33
4. Matt Elias Calles-San Clemente 8.33
5. Nathan Thompson-Huntington Beach 4.67

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