NSSA Southwest Conf Open Season #6

National Scholastic Surfing Assoc.
Seaside Reef Cardif San Diego
20 - 21 December 2008

NSSA Southwest Conf Open #6 ends season in Cardiff

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 2 January, 2009 : - - It was a December to remember as the Southwest Conference closed out 2008 with the Open Season event #6 on December 20-21. The sixth stop of the 10 event Open schedule was held at Seaside Reef in beautiful Cardiff by the Sea in fun 2-3 foot surf.  Youth prevailed big-time at the contest where the winners of all six categories were age 15 or younger including an outstanding victory by Ian Crane in the Open Men’s division.

Junior age competitor Ian Crane stepped up and took his level further clinching his first ever win in the hotly contested Open Men’s division.  After a frustrating loss in the Juniors semifinals, Crane was committed to proving himself in the Men’s.  By the time the Men’s final hit the water, conditions were deteriorating because of the dropping swell. 

Crane only managed to catch three waves in the 25-minute final, but the talented and flashy goofy-footer made the most of the inconsistent surf scoring a 6.0 and 5.17 to take a close decision over ratings frontrunner Christian Saenz.  Seaside local JD Lewis put forth his best performance of the season placing third followed by Doug Van Mierlo who was also appearing in his first Open final.  “It was a good contest, I’m psyched on the win,” Crane said after the final. 

“During the heat, the ocean went pretty flat but when the waves did come in they were fun.  Christian and I were going back and forth in the lead.  At the end, he was in first but I got a pretty good right that reformed nicely and got a 6.0 which put me back in first.”  Strangely Crane has been struggling in the Juniors category but has been stepping it up in the Men’s. 

He had an impressive second place showing at the Church Open last month and then took it to the top in this one.  “I was mad because I had a shocker in Juniors so I wanted to win the Men’s really bad", Crane said.  “At the last contest, I got a second in the Men’s so I just wanted to improve on that.”  

Kolohe Andino made a triumphant return to Southwest Conference competition in a stacked final that featured No. 1 ranked Conner Coffin, Luke Davis and Taylor Clark. 

The six-time National Champion from San Clemente changed conference affiliation to the NSSA Hawaii Conference for the 2008-09 season where he is competing to qualify for the National Championships. 

Andino was right back in the zone like he never left taking a runaway victory 13.67-10.83 victory over Davis.  The 14-year-old teenage standout was at a dominant level of performance in the 54-man Junior’s field posting the division’s top two single wave scores-a 9.0 and 8.67 and the two highest point totals-a 15.33 and 15.00. 

“The waves are fun and my board works really well,” Andino said.  “Conner beat me last year at Seaside so I wanted to beat him and get him back. 

It was a good time out there; I really like the waves here.”  Andino added that he could possibly be back to compete in more west coast events.  “I like the Southwest events a lot, they are super fun and I’ll probably do a couple more.  But I dedicated this year’s season to the Hawaii Conference so I’ll be competing over there a few more times to qualify for the Nationals.”

In Women’s action, 14-year-old Lakey Peterson once again stunned her rivals, including reigning National Champion Courtney Conlogue by locking up her second win of the season.  Peterson opened up the final with a strong 7.17 ride and then backed it up with a good 6.0 wave in the final minute to secure a narrow victory over Conlogue. 

Throughout the 25-minute final, painstaking lulls added to the challenge as Conlogue managed only a couple of 4 point rides and Taylor Pitz was holding down a 5.0 score with no back-up.  Chandler Parr was in the game and leading the final with a solid 6.67 scored until Peterson nailed the 6.0 money wave.  Conlogue remained in the hunt needing a heavy 9.0 score for the win. 

In nothing less than an spectacular showing of poise and effort, the never-say-die Conlogue paddled into a set right with seconds remaining on the clock and went ballistic, exploding on every turn.  As the crowd anxiously waited, the score came up short by the smallest of margins-an 8.83.  Peterson held on to take the photo-finish win but a huge shout out to Conlogue for her last minute heroics. 

“The conditions were really tricky,” an ecstatic Peterson said after being announced in first place.  “My coach Mike Lamm told me to go out to the reef and get outside position so I sat a couple strokes out further than anyone.  At beginning of the heat I caught a really good set and got a 7 point score but there was a long lull after that.  With a minute left I got the 6.0 which was what I needed to move into first.” 

Peterson’s win will elevate her to the number one ratings position, but the reigning conference champion Conlogue remains in striking distance trailing by roughly 300 points.  When asked about the ratings race, Lakey replied, “Courtney is an amazing surfer so I’m looking forward to battling with her the rest of the season.” Contest announcer Joe Turpel was amazed at the accelerated level of Women’s surfing this year including the intense last minute exchange. 

“It’s cool to see all the girls step and give Courtney a little run for her money,” Turpel said.  “That was such a super close final.  Courtney had the wave and she can throw those scores down as we saw her pull off at the Nationals last year.  But I was stoked for Lakey to pick up another win because it’s going to make a great race for that conference title!”

Twenty down and two more to go for Kanoa Igarashi in his hunt to break the all-time win’s record.  The 11-year-old cemented his twentieth win of the season grinding out an ultra-tight 14.50-14.34 win over Seaside local Jake Marshall.  Igarashi had to battle hard for the win as a second place finish to Marshall in the opening round sent him to the repercharge. 

After winning the repercharge and advancing to the final, Igarashi wasted no time opening up with a near perfect 9.67 wave, the highest wave score of the entire event.  Battling head to head with Marshall throughout the 25-minute final, Igarashi held on to a slim lead adding his 20th to the win column.  “I wanted to start off really quick and get a wave under my belt,” Igarashi said.  “I got the perfect right that went forever.  It was bowling up on the inside which allowed me to get a lot of turns on the inside race track. 

The wave just went forever.”  Igarashi will head to Pacific Beach for Explorer event #6 on January 3-4 where he will continue his quest for the history books.  “I have one more to go to tie,” Igarashi said.  “But I’m not sure if I will break the record at Pacific Beach.  I would have two win two divisions and that is hard.  But I’m stoked because the next Open is at my home break in a couple weeks so I am feeling confident about that.”

Jake Marshall took command yet again of the Mini Grom division.  He was in form at his home break ripping two excellent wave scores of 7.83 and 8.83 to keep his undefeated streak alive.  “It’s getting really tough to get the wins now,” Marshall said after the final.  “The competition is getting harder and harder in the Mini Groms.  Tyler was ripping in this one and Kei was killing it.”  

Marshall was even knocking on the door in the Boys final giving Igarashi a run before finishing runner-up by a fraction of a point.  With Seaside as his back yard, it came as no surprise that Marshall would have a strong performance in the upper level Boys category.  “I’m glad I surf up in the Boys division because it pushes me to do better,” Marshall said.  “Everyone surfs so well in that division.  I was in sixth in the Boys ratings coming into this event so I knew I needed a big result to push me up.”

In the Longboard division Matt Elias-Calles claimed his first ever NSSA win over runner-up Michael Maddox.  

The NSSA West Coast Conferences are proud to have support from No Fear, Nike 6.0, Huntington Surf and Sport, Surfing Magazine, WaveWatch, Sex Wax, No Fear Energy Drink, Channel Islands Surfboards, S4 Optics and the Sugar Shack.  The NSSA is a member of Surfing America, the ISA-recognized National Governing Body for Surfing in the United States.

COMING UP IN CALI:  The NSSA rings in 2009 with the Southwest Conference Explorer Season #6 at Pacific Beach’s Crystal Pier on January 3-4.  The Southwest Conference Open Season will storm the shores of Surf City with the tour stop #7 at Huntington Beach Pier on January 10-11.  The Explorer Season will    

RESULTS

OPEN MENS
1. Ian Crane-San Clemente 11.17
2. Christian Saenz-Huntington Beach 10.34
3. JD Lewis-Cardiff by the Sea 9.66
4. Doug Van Mierlo-San Clemente 8.17

OPEN JUNIORS
1. Kolohe Andino-San Clemente 13.67
2. Luke Davis-Capistrano Beach 10.83
3. Conner Coffin-Santa Barbara 10.00
4. Taylor Clark-Encinitas 8.67

OPEN BOYS
1. Kanoa Igarashi-Huntington Beach 14.50
2. Jake Marshall-Encinitas 14.34
3. Jacob Davis-Capistrano Beach 13.50
4. Kei Kobayashi-San Clemente 5.66
5. Jay Christenson-San Diego 5.50
6. Nic Hdez-Santa Cruz 3.75

OPEN MINI GROM
1. Jake Marshall-Encinitas 16.67
2. Tyler Gunter-Newport Beach 12.16
3. Kei Kobayashi-San Clemente 9.67
4. Sam Wickwire-Seal Beach 7.16
5. Ryland Rubens-San Diego 10.16
6. Griffin Colapinto-San Clemente 5.00

OPEN WOMENS
1. Lakey Peterson-Santa Barbara 13.17
2. Courtney Conlogue-Santa Ana 13.00
3. Chandler Parr-Santa Monica 9.84
4. Taylor Pitz-Laguna Beach 7.17

OPEN LONGBOARD
1. Matt Elias Calles-San Clemente
2. Michael Maddox-Newport Beach
3. Jordan Collins-Carlsbad

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