NSSA Open Season Event #10, Huntington Beach Pier
OPEN SEASON EVENT #10 -- HUNTINGTON BEACH PIER -- APRIL 4-5, 2009
CONDITIONS: Perfect contest conditions with epic 4-6 foot surf on the south side of the Huntington Beach Pier
SOUTHSIDE WAS ON FIRE!
 The stars aligned on April 4th and 5th for the tenth event of the Southwest Conference Open Season. The wave conditions in Surf City were all-time thanks to one of the best swells of the season which generated perfect surf along the Southern California coast. Over 200 of the NSSA’s west coast student surfers scored epic waves ranging from four to six feet on the famed Southside of the Huntington Beach Pier. The competitors were fired up as the northwest and southwest swell combo provided superb lefts and rights with long rippable walls and spitting barrels. Beautiful weather and wave conditions remained consistent throughout the two-day event with warm, sunny skies, calm winds and smooth ocean surfaces. The HB Open’s tenth stop was originally suppose to close out the 2008/09 season, however there is one event remaining on the schedule due to a rain postponement of the Newport Open event No. 8 back in February. The make-up event is scheduled for May 9th and 10th at Ninth Street in Huntington Beach. With the one event remaining, a couple conference titles are still on the line and the road will go through Ninth Street while most division crowns were locked up at this event including the prestigious Southwest Open Men’s crown.
CHRISTIAN SAENZ
 With incredible focus and determination, Christian Saenz sealed the Southwest Conference Open Men’s title simply by advancing out of his Round 2 heat. But that clearly was not enough for the Huntington Beach High School Junior as he went on to win the Open Men’s final in a close decision over Dominic DiPietro. The motivated Saenz hadn’t won an event since last November when he nailed his first victory of the season at the Oceanside Open. But his outstanding consistency throughout the regular season with an impressive four second place finishes greatly facilitated his title hopes. Surfing in front of a hometown crowd, Saenz capitalized on the amazing conditions and took a close decision over Dominic DiPietro. DiPietro, who was surfing dynamically throughout the contest, posted his best result thus far with his second place showing followed by HB local Evan Kane taking third and Doug Van Mierlo taking fourth.
Saenz will now add his name to the prestigious list of Southwest Conference Open Men’s champions which includes luminaries such as Tom Curren, Mike Parsons, Pat O’Connell, Rob Machado, Timmy Reyes and Patrick Gudauskas. He also becomes the first Huntington Beach resident to take the title since Ryan Turner back in 1998. “I had a shocker season in the Open last year,” Saenz said as he reflected on his success this year. “After last year’s Nationals, I re-evaluated things over the summer. When I came into the first event of this season, I was shooting for top five in the ratings. I took a second place at the first event and then I got another second at contest number three at HB Pier. The next contest was at Oceanside and I finally took my first Open victory and that felt really good. After that win it hit me, I thought I could win the conference title. I was in second forever to Riley (Metcalf) and then once the season’s halfway mark hit, I was determined to win the whole thing.” It’s not “Mission Accomplished” for Saenz as he now eyes the post season. “Of course I would like to do well at the Nationals but first I want that Cup!” Saenz said referring to the traditional gold cup awarded to the winner of the NSSA Regional Championships. “It’s like the Stanley Cup of amateur surfing! Winning the conference ratings has given me a huge boost of confidence so I’m going to continue to work really hard, surf a bunch and hopefully win the Westerns. That would be amazing.”
The Thorne twins Taylor and Jared delivered sizzling surfing displays throughout the weekend including a fantastic super heat in the Men’s quarterfinals which included some amazing barrel-riding. Jared lit up the scoreboard posting a spectacular perfect 10 and another excellent 8.17 which was the highest combined two-wave total of the Men’s division. Taylor earned a close-to-perfection 9.17 in the heat but didn’t advance for lack of a solid back-up wave. A few hours later, Taylor shook off the Men’s quarterfinal defeat and went on to crush the Juniors final racking up a strong 16.67 combined score on two solid 8.67 and 8.0 rides. Parker Coffin was runner-up followed by Jared Thorne and Sam Branker who came up big with a fourth place finish. Defending Conference Champion Conner Coffin, who was competing in the ISA World Junior Championships and missed the event, will hang on to a near 600-point ratings lead.
Catherine Clark had a field day at HB Pier dominating all of the preliminary rounds of the Open Women’s and racking up the highest heat totals-a 16.00 and a 15.00 in her quarterfinal and semifinal heats. The steadily improving 15-year-old, who clinched the Gold Coast Conference Explorer Women’s title last week, cruised to her first Open victory of the season which moved her to the top of the ratings. The Open Women’s conference title is still up for grabs despite the absence of four-time conference champion Courtney Conlogue who was attending the ISA World Junior Championships (congrats to Conlogue who battled hard at the Games in Equador and took the silver medal). Conlogue, who is the reigning Conference, Regional and National Champion trails Clark by 289 points. No doubt, an exciting showdown at the make-up event!
In the Boys final, Jacob Davis took top honors by a fraction of a point over runner-up Kanoa Igarashi by a score of 12.34-12.33. Davis was hitting the lip with authority and was rewarded with two 6.17 wave scores which earned him his first win of the season. Although Igarashi was denied from putting victory number 29 in his account, the 11-year-old wunderkind put forth another tremendous performance. In his Boys quarterfinal heat, he scored a perfect 10, posted the highest combined heat total of the division (18.33) and wrapped up the conference title by a near 4,000 point ratings margin. Jake Marshall went on a tear this year in the Mini Grom division clinching the conference title on his eighth victory of the season. Scott Brandenburg took his seventh victory of the year securing the Conference Longboard title.
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 Southwest Explorer Season will close out the 2008/09 season with event #10 May 2-3 at Ninth Street in Huntington Beach. The Southwest Conference Open Season make-up event #8 will be held at Ninth Street in Huntington Beach on May 9-10. The post season will begin without delay with the 2009 NSSA West Coast Championships starting Wednesday, May 13 and running through Sunday, May 17.
THE SCOREBOARD
RESULTS
SOUTHWEST CONFERENCE OPEN SEASON EVENT #10
HUNTINGTON BEACH PIER-SOUTHSIDE
OPEN MENS
1. Christian Saenz-Huntington Beach 13.67
2. Dominic DiPietro-Carlsbad 13.50
3. Evan Kane-Huntington Beach 12.33
4. Doug Van Mierlo-San Clemente 7.66
OPEN JUNIORS
1. Taylor Thorne-Newport Beach 16.67
2. Parker Coffin-Santa Barbara 12.83
3. Jared Thorne-Newport Beach 12.34
4. Sam Branker-San Clemente 9.33
OPEN BOYS
1. Jacob Davis-Capistrano Beach 12.34
2. Kanoa Igarashi-Huntington Beach 12.33
3. Jake Marshall-Encinitas 10.67
4. Skip McCullough-La Jolla 9.33
5. Colton Ward-San Clemente 8.66
6. Hunter Johnson-San Diego 8.34
OPEN MINI GROM
1. Jake Marshall-Encinitas 13.50
2. Griffin Colapinto-San Clemente 8.50
3. Ryland Rubens-San Diego 4.84
4. Kei Kobayashi-San Clemente 4.66
5. Jack Thurber-Irvine 2.50
6. Sam Wickwire-Seal Beach 0.00
OPEN WOMENS
1. Catherine Clark-Ventura 10.50
2. Chloe Buckley-San Diego 5.67
3. Chandler Parr-Santa Monica 4.83
4. Anise Guzman-Huntington Beach 4.33
OPEN LONGBOARD
1. Scott Brandenburg-San Clemente 9.67
2. Matt Elias Calles-San Clemente 6.33
3. Shaun Thompson-Huntington Beach 0.0
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