|
PRIME TIME
Solid surf graces DMJs as inaugural PacSun WSA Prime Series marks an exciting new turn for youth surfing
By:
Ryan Cameron
Photos: All photos: Jack McDaniel
|
October 1, 2008
7038 visits
|
|
Top young talent from all over the coast showed up to compete in the foggy weather and good waves last weekend.
This was the first contest ever to be held at DMJ's, and more importantly it is the first in a new series of contests that Surfing America hopes will provide a clear path to the USA Surf Team. The WSA Prime series is a unique opportunity for young surfers to break onto the national team, coached by Joey Buran with Assistant Coach Sean Mattison. Both coaches were available throughout the whole event.
|
|
Contest Director Greg Cruse, who conceptualized this new series, was enthusiastic. "One morning I was laying in bed thinking, 'How can we accommodate these kids? We have a clean slate, we can do whatever we want.' So instead of doing 6-man, 15-minute heats, we switched to 4-man, 20-minute heats. All judges are ASP judges and this is getting them used to surfing to this criteria, which is much different." Cruse went on to describe the choice of locations for the events. "We went on and chose the best beaches that we could on the coast. No one wants to surf San Fernando and 9th Street where the permits are cheap. We got DMJs, Church, Steamer Lane, Salt Creek, and Huntington Beach Pier. The kids and parents are all stoked." "Instead of doing 6-man, 15-minute heats, we switched to 4-man, 20-minute heats. All judges are ASP judges and this is getting them used to surfing to this criteria, which is much different."
-- WSA Prime Organizer Greg Cruse
Courtney Conlogue surfer her way to the top on Saturday, winning all of her heats by a decent margin and eventually taking the whole event for the Girls Under 18 division. Lakey Peterson held onto the second place spot, giving her an opportunity to grab a solid amount of points for the new series. The Girls Under 16 division also wrapped up on Saturday. Emmy Merrill won the younger division with a 10.10 heat total in the final, really making the best out of the onshore conditions later in the day. Impressively, Jake Marshall, 10-years-old from Encinitas, was the only surfer from the Boys Under 12 qualifier heats to make it to the semis in the Boys Under 14 division. "It's not intimidating to surf against the older guys," Marshall said. "I kinda like it because you don't have any pressure on you so you get to do whatever you want." Another highlight from this division was Kanoa Igarashi, who comboed the other surfers during the semifinals, landing a big air in his heat. Parker Coffin went on to win this division with solid surfing in the final. Ian Crane won the Boys Under 16 division, landing two clean airs in his final and surfing well during the whole event. Luke Davis was another standout in this division, with powerful surfing all the way to the final, giving him second. Nat Young from Santa Cruz was the winner for the Boys Under 18 division, making the best out of the onshore winds and very low tide. Riley Metcalf from San Clemente came in second, surfing very well and landing a big air reverse during the quarterfinals that got cheers from the beach. "The final was actually better than the previous heats because the tide was low enough to make it break off the jetty, so you could get a longer ride." said Young. "I knew if I got a wave out there I'd have way more potential to get a big score than if I waited on the inside." And he did. During the first few minutes of the heat Young caught a head high set wave and bashed it over and over all the way to the beach. That ride netted him a high score of 9.17, and secured the heat for him as nobody was able to top it during the rest of the 25-minute final. It was a great start to an exciting new series for American youth surfing. The next stop for the WSA Prime series is at Church Trestles in San Clemente on October 11th. Results: Boys Under 18 18.17 Nat Young 10.50 Riley Metcalf 9.67 Nathan Carvalho 7.20 Christian Arballo Boys Under 16 10.80 Ian Crane 10.50 Luke Davis 8.34 Taylor Thorne 6.56 Jared Thorne Boys Under 14 15.83 Parker Coffin 13.17 Taylor Clark 12.50 Colin Moran 10.67 Kanoa Igarashi Girls Under 18 16.00 Courtney Conologue 10.70 Lakey Peterson 10.33 Nage Melamed 5.77 Natalie Anzavino Girls Under 16 10.10 Emmy Merrill 5.97 Catherine Clark 4.83 Lulu Erkeneff 4.70 Danielle Wyman SURFLINE HOME PAGE MORE SURF NEWS |
|