Open Mens finalists l-r: Sam Orozco, Andrew Jacobson, Jake Davis, Skip McCullough

After kicking off the 2010-11 season with two consecutive Explorer events, the Southwest Conference switched gears and got off to an amazing start at HB Pier for the first Open event of the season. Over 150 student surfers from the west coast reveled in the fun conditions at the pier battling for points and prestige of the premier scholastic Open divisions. The surf couldn’t be better for the Open Season opening weekend as a solid southwest swell pumped excellent 3-5 foot waves into Surf City’s Southside arena.

Andrew Jacobson and Jake Davis stormed out of the gates in the Open Season opener. Jacobson, 15, and Davis, 13, got off to a promising start to kick off Open Season competition doubling up in both the Men’s and Juniors finals. Jacobson, who’s polished frontside attack on Southside’s Pier Bowl lefts earned him an impressive fourth place finish in the Open Juniors and second place in the Explorer Boys at the 2010 Nationals, was once again blending a series of big top to bottom moves en route to an outstanding victory in the Open Men’s and a runner up finish in the Open Juniors.

Although he resides in Malibu, Jacobson was ripping the sometimes hard-to-read pier peaks like a local. He utilized the steeper faced lefts off the pier as his winning tactic throughout the contest taking six-first places in the preliminary rounds leading up to the finals. The Men’s final matched up Jacobson with Davis, Sam Orozco and another Juniors standout Skip McCullough.

Orozco’s strategy was to sit on the south sandbar notoriously known as “Machado’s Peak”. Orozco was on his way to his first Open victory until Jacobson locked in a 5-point ride in the final minute which turned the heat.

Jake Davis’s unparalleled brand of power for a 13-year-old was incredibly impressive to everyone watching, especially the judges. His bigger build allows for stronger maneuvers and he was primed to perform in the solid head high surf which was on offer. In contrast to Andrew Jacobson’s strong frontside attack, Davis unleashed a dynamic backside assault on the pier bowl lefts. In the Juniors final, Davis was up against Jacobson, Josh Benjoya who made his first Open final, and Kadin Panesi who recorded the highest single score of the division (8.17) in his semifinal. On his first wave of the 25-minute final, Davis put himself in the driver’s seat posting an excellent 8.0 score. He backed it up with another good 5.83 later in the heat. Jacobson was in the hunt with a solid 7.0 and a 5.83 backup while Benjoya and Panesi struggled to find a good scoring wave. Davis claimed his first victory of the season while also commanding the top stats of the event in both the Men’s and Juniors divisions. He posted the top wave score in the Men’s (7.50), the highest combined heat total in Men’s (14.17) and the highest combined heat total in the Juniors (13.83).

Both Griffin Colapinto and Jake Marshall have been the standouts of the 12 & under divisions so far in the early goings of both Open and Explorer competition. And once again, both put forth big performances. With a good head-to-head rivalry building momentum at every contest, Colapinto edged out Marshall for the win at this one by a fraction of a point 11.50-11.10. In both the Boys and Mini Grom divisions, Tyler Gunter was displaying the moves that earned him the runner-up Mini Grom placing at the 2010 Nationals. Gunter was charging the sets and blasting big turns to the sand taking third in the Boys and first in the Mini Groms. Peruvian grom Alonso Correa showed that he is one hot young up-and-comer with a fourth place finish in the Boys final. He traveled to the USA to compete in the first Open and will be back for more NSSA competition in the future. We love the international flair!

When the Open Women’s took to the water, they put on a great show. The final matched up Taylor Pitz, Kulia Doherty and Danielle Wyman. Lani Doherty surfed a great semi-final to advance but a foot injury sidelined her for the final. Pitz found her rhythm right off the bat posting a 5.33 score and then backed it up with a solid 5.93. 14-year-old Kulia Doherty was putting up huge numbers throughout the event including an excellent 8.50 and a 15.23 two-wave total in her semi-final which was the highest single scoring wave and combined score of the entire event. However in the final, she struggled to find the open shoulders with good scoring opportunity. Pitz held on to take her first victory of the season with Doherty in second and Wyman third.

In both the Women’s and the newly established Open Girls 14 & under division, Kulia Doherty came out firing on all cylinders. Surfing strongly on her frontside and crushing the lip, Kulia was unstoppable in the Girls final nailing two big scores of 8.0 and 7.0 for a solid 15.0 combined total. Frankie Harrer took second followed by Kylie Loveland and Kloee Openshaw.

In the Longboard division, the hotly contested but friendly rivalry continued between 2010 National Champion Shaun Thompson and 2010 Regional Champion Jason Schechter. Both faced off in the final along with National Explorer Champion Dane Petersen and young grom Noah Hill. In the final, both Thompson and Schechter battled neck-and-neck with mid-range 4’s on the scoreboard with Petersen and Hill trailing. Finally Schechter blew the heat wide open nailing a solid 6.17 score and securing his first win of the year.

Jake Davis’s impressive manhandling of maneuvers which earned him top stats in three separate categories was named “Performer of the Event”. Jake collected a bag of goodies which included cool products from Sex Wax and HSS and Jamba Juice gift certificates.

The NSSA Southwest Conference is proud to have support from Nike 6.0, Huntington Surf and Sport, Java Point, Surfing Magazine, Sex Wax, Channel Islands and 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 Gold Coast Conference resumes the competition schedule on September 18-19 with a doubleheader event #3 and #4 at Ventura Harbor. Premier competition on the west coast will continue with Southwest Open Season event #2 September 25-26 at Oceanside Pier. The Southwest Explorer will resume competition with event #3 scheduled for October 2-3 in Huntington Beach.

THE SCOREBOARD
RESULTS
SOUTHWEST CONFERENCE OPEN SEASON EVENT #1
HUNTINGTON BEACH PIER, SOUTHSIDE

OPEN DIVISIONS
OPEN MENS
1. Andrew Jacobson-Malibu 9.20
2. Sam Orozco-Dana Point 8.87
3. Jake Davis-Capistrano Beach 8.17
4. Skip McCullough-La Jolla 7.34

OPEN JUNIORS
1. Jake Davis-Capistrano Beach 13.83
2. Andrew Jacobson-Malibu 12.83
3. Josh Benjoya-Dana Point 6.00
4. Kadin Panesi-Pacifica 3.33

OPEN BOYS
1. Griffin Colapinto-San Clemente 11.50
2. Jake Marshall-Encinitas 11.10
3. Tyler Gunter-Newport Beach 8.23
4. Alonso Correa-Peru 6.80

OPEN MINI GROMS
1. Tyler Gunter-Newport Beach 12.23
2. Eithan Osborne-Ventura 7.77
3. Zach McCormick-Solana Beach 6.86
4. Nick Marshall-Encinitas 4.43

OPEN WOMENS
1. Taylor Pitz-Laguna Beach 11.26
2. Kulia Doherty-San Clemente 10.20
3. Danielle Wyman-Laguna Niguel 4.90
4. Lani Doherty-San Clemente 0.0 (injury)

OPEN GIRLS
1. Kulia Doherty-San Clemente 15.00
2. Frankie Harrer-Malibu 7.50
3. Kylie Loveland-Carlsbad 4.90
4. Kloee Openshaw-San Clemente 1.83

OPEN LONGBOARD
1. Jason Schechter-San Diego 11.24
2. Shaun Thompson-Huntington Beach 8.76
3. Dane Peterson-Trabuco Canyon 7.30
4. Noah Hill-Marina Del Rey 4.60

PERFORMER OF THE EVENT
Jake Davis-Capistrano Beach

www.nssa.org

View Original Post at dylamagazine.com

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equalopps

Regarding the above event: You will notice that NSSA provides opportunities for Boys Shortboard, Girls Shortboard, "Open" Longboard (only boys) only. There is not a gender separation and equal opportunity for Girls Longboard. I have brought reasons against this inequity to all of the NSSA leaders across the country and Hawaii. None ever replies back to me. There is absolutely NO reason to not afford Longboard Girls a chance at this. This policy also applies to Middle School, High School and College teams at NSSA events. This completely flies in the face of Title IX. I would hope that Womens' Sports Blog will address this issue with the NSSA hierarchy.

Monday, September 20, 2010 at 7:15pm PDT