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HAWAIIAN PRIDE
Carissa Moore and Clay Marzo dominate NSSA Nationals Final Day
It's 3pm on the last day of the week-long NSSA Nationals marathon. Lowers is just starting to pull in the new southwest swell -- call it overhead for the groms. There's hundreds of sunburnt kids and frothing parents and jaded team managers lining the beach. Apart from some random stick jousting, a teenage couple caught making whoopee in the bushes and escorted out, and talk of this week's upcoming swell, it's sorta business as usual at Lowers.
But when Maui boy Clay Marzo takes off on an innocent, shoulder-high left about three minutes into the hotly contested Open Men's Final and launches into a full on speedcarve-air-reverse 360 thingy under and over the lip -- and pulls it -- the crowd and the judges stand up and take notice.
In addition to perfect 10s across the board, a standing ovation erupted on the beach, from Clay's grandma to the tow-headed kids playing basketball at the Volcom tent. This is a surf contest. This is Nationals, where kids from all over the country come to put it on rail for prizes, glory and a shot at going pro. Marzo reminded everyone why we're here.
And if that weren't enough, about 10 minutes later, the lanky Maui goofyfoot did it again: took off behind the peak on a shoulder-high left, dug hard into a bottom turn and came flying off the top, dropping tail-first back into the foam -- and pulled it. Another perfect 10. Un-fricken-heard of.
"I just got back from an amazing boat trip with Kelly," he explains to the paparazzi after his heat. "I learned a lot from watching him." When asked about the waves, Marzo was more hands than words. "I went into that turn and tried to push it as hard as I could," he gestures with his palm. "After I made it, I was super relieved; I didn't have to stress about my next wave. When I got the second ten…man. I was so stoked. It was the best feeling ever -- two tens, no better."
Indeed. And while it's NSSA policy to hold off announcing final results until Sunday's awards banquet, it's pretty obvious who won the Open Men's Final. Two tens is pretty hard to beat. Clay won a spiffy red Toyota Matrix to boot. His grandma was stoked, hours later. "I'm still shaking," she said, admiring her grandson's new car.
Meanwhile, in the girl's division, it was more Hawaii. More Carissa Moore, to be exact. The 13-year-old wonderkid has won pretty much every single heat of the week, often by 5 points or more. Today is no different. She's all over the long peeling rights, carving and racing and airing when possible. She comboed pretty much everyone in the Open Women's final. She's unstoppable. Her secret? She just doesn't fall. Simple.
And as longtime observer Mike Parsons says, "it's all about the dads." Carissa's dad Chris is the most support a competitor could hope to have: he videos her heats, organizes interviews, coaches her, etc etc. She's got a golden path ahead, to be sure.
And the rest of 'em? It's summertime, dude. They're working on their next year's "what I did over summer vacation" essay.
FULL RESULTS
SCHOLASTIC
HIGH SCHOOL TEAM
1 - San Clemente A
2 - Huntington Beach A
3 - Ventura High
4 - Huntington Beach B
HIGH SCHOOL MENS
1 - Dane Ward
2 - Chris Waring
3 - Ryland McCart
4 - Ian Eckberg
5 - Spencer Regan
6 - Corey Arrambide
High School Women
1 - Colleen Mehlberg
2 - Lexi Papilion
3 - Kaitland Maguire
4 - Marissa Hood
5 - Erin Griffin
6 - Shelby Ling
High School Longboard
1 - Mike Jorgenson
2 - Richie Cravey
3 - Gerry Swearingen
4 - Brendon Holloway
5 - Troy Mothershead
6 - Kyle Harvel
High School Bodyboard
1 - Brad Mebust
2 - Chris Welpman
3 - Timmy Schulz
4 - Niko Skoparnias
5 - Kris Espinoza
6 - Tyler Swanson
MIDDLE SCHOOL TEAM
1 - Bernice Ayers
2 - Dwyer
3 - Sauers Red
4 - Kula Kahakai
MIDDLE SCHOOL BOYS
1 - Alex Gullet
2 - Alex Smith
3 - David Price
4 - Colton Larson
5 - Billy Winslow
6 - Tanner Razunkos
MIDDLE SCHOOL GIRLS
1 - Carissa Moore
2 - Malia Manuel
3 - Cassidy Wehesner
4 - Cassie Bartenstein
5 - Chelsea Byland
6 - Kristen Reback
MIDDLE SCHOOL LONGBOARD
1 - Scott Bra
ndenburg
2 - Nick Hagen
3 - Max Axline
4 - Kurt Brending
5 - Billy Hopkins
6 - Blake Michael
MIDDLE SCHOOL BODYBOARD
1 - Drew Erickson
2 - Travis Smith
3 - Drew Anderson
4 - Ryan Arrias
5 - Derek Faas
6 - Aaron Steiner
COLLEGE TEAM
1 - UCSB
2 - Pt. Loma
3 - Mira Costa
4 - Cal State Long Beach
COLLEGE MEN
1 - Adam Instone
2 - Pat Drummy
3 - Alex Ganguli
4 - Joe Alani
5 - Charlie McMahon
6 - Kahana Kalama
COLLEGE WOMEN
1 - Lauren Sweeny
2 - Melissa Murphy
3 - Renee Robertson
4 - Summer Myer
5 - Bianca Valenti
6 - Lauren McClean
COLLEGE LONGBOARD
1 - Tommy Ostendorf
2 - Tim Hoover
3 - Justin Hugron
4 - Brendan Castille
5 - John Balk
6 - Sean Keany
COLLEGE BODYBOARD
1 - Yusuke Shibata
2 - Warren Duthie
3 - Danny Hart
4 - Alex Zimmerman
5 - Matt Downey
6 - Andy Gold
EXPLORER
Super Seniors
1 - Mike Lamm
2 - Pat Conway
6 - Steve Mendelson
5 - Patrick Schlick
3 - David Winslow
4 - Bryan Surratt
Girls
1 - Carissa Moore
2 - Alana Blanchard
3 - Sage Erickson
4 - Coco Ho
5 - Malia Manuel
6 - Leila Hurst
Seniors
1 - Jason Haughey
4 - Andrew Berman
3 - Mike Glevy
6 - Rusty Phillipy
2 - Ricky Schaffer
5 - Buggs Arico
Mens
1 - Dusty Payne
3 - Nick Rozsa
5 - Brady McKenzie
4 - Torrey Meister
2 - Jeremy Johnston
6 - Eric Geiselman
Menehuene
4 - Ezekiel Lau
1 - John John Florence
2 - Andrew Doheny
6 - Luke Davis
5 - Kolohe Andino
3 - Koa Smith
Juniors
1 - Casey Brown
5 - Tanner Gudauskas
2 - Eric Geiselman
4 - Nick Rozsa
3 - Kai Barger
6 - Mason Ho
Womens
4 - Alana Blanchard
6 - Colleen Mehlberg
3 - Ashley Bobb
5 - Sage Erickson
3 - Ashley Hunter
1 - Bethany Hamilton
Masters
4 - Rusty Phillipy
1 - Micah Pitts
5 - YuFu Penrose
3 - Chad LaBass
2 - Andrew Valentine
6 - Jon Moellendick
Longboard
1 - Justin Quintal
2 - Kevin Osbourne
3 - Troy Mothershead
4 - Chris Smith
5 - Christian Clark
6 - Shane Van Herk
Boys
1 - Granger Larsen
2 - Hizon Lee-Kee
6 - Evan Geiselman
4 - Alex Smith
5 - Kris Wiernicki
3 - Dillon Perillo
OPEN
Womens Governor’s Cup
1 - Carissa Moore
5 - Malia Manuel
3 - Alana Blanchard
4 - Bethany Hamilton
2 - Colleen Mehlberg
6 - Courtney Conlogue
Mens Governor’s Cup
1 - Clay Marzo
4 - Mason Ho
6 - Ricky Whitlock
3 - Dane Ward
2 - Torrey Meister
5 - Kellen Ellison
Longboard
4 - Tony Silvagni
5 - Troy Mothershead
6 - Joey Aaron
1 - Christian Clark
3 - Chris Smith
2 - Christian Wach
Boys
4 - Ezekiel Lau
3 - Koa Smith
1 - John John Florence
6 - Andrew Doheny
2 - Kolohe Andino
5 - Evan Geiselman
Juniors
3 - Clay Marzo
2 - Chas Chidester
5 - -Cody Thompson
1 - Kai Barger
6 - -Tonino Benson
4 - Cory Arrambide
Mini-Grom
3 - Nathan Florence
5 - John Elles
4 - Kekia Elias
1 - Kolohe Andino
2 - Koa Smith
6 - Keani Patterson
Airshow
1 - Kilian Garland
2 - Tory Meister
3 - Marshall Alberga
4 - Granger Larsen
5 - Ryland McCart
6 - Dusty Payne
--
Marcus Sanders
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