The 2009-10 Southwest Conference Open Season resumed on the north side of Oceanside Pier for the fourth stop of the season. Conditions remained very good throughout the two day event with fun chest to head high surf and warm daytime temperatures. Youth prevailed at the contest where three Open Junior age competitors overwhelmed their older opponents and ripped their way to the Open Men’s finals. Parker Coffin, Trevor Thornton and Jake Halstead led the youth brigade with high caliber surfing making both the Men’s and Juniors finals.

14-year-old Parker Coffin exceeded expectations scoring a major victory in the premier Open Men’s division. The energetic goofy-footer used an aggressive frontside approach on the O’Side lefts throughout the event to finish on top of the 48-man field. He posted a 14.03 heat total on wave scores of 7.43 and 6.60 to win the final by a near 4-point margin over runner up Jake Halstead, New Zealand surfer Matt Hewitt and Trevor Thornton. He also went ballistic in his Open Juniors semi where he crushed a left earning a 9.2 score and then added another 7.17 to log in the highest totals of the shortboard categories. Jake Halstead used his powerful backside attack en route to both the Men’s and Juniors finals and was the only surfer in the Men’s top 5 to make the final. Matt Hewitt, an 18-year-old up-and-coming surfer from Mount Maunganui, New Zealand displayed his impressive talent throughout the contest earning a berth in the Open Men’s final in his inaugural NSSA appearance. Hewitt, who lives in Mount Maunganui and attends Tauranga Boys College which has a national reputation as one of the best schools in New Zealand, is in California to compete in the O’Neill Cold Water Classic. After the Cold Water, he plans to head back down to Southern Cal to compete in the NSSA Church Open. The Men’s ratings grew tighter with No. 1 ranked Conner Coffin missing the contest and No. 2 ranked Christian Saenz missing the opportunity to capitalize on Conner’s absence with a Round 2 loss. Halstead will remain in third in the ratings but his second place showing at this event will significantly improve his position.

Trevor Thornton has had a sensational run in the Open Juniors division thus far. The 14-year-old from San Clemente kicked off the year with a win at the 6-star opener in Huntington and then took a second at the HB Pier event in early October. In Oceanside he revved up again with an impressive finals showing in the Men’s and more notably claimed his second victory of the season in the Juniors. In the final Thornton matched up with Jake Halstead, Parker Coffin and Taylor Clark, who had recently come off an impressive win at the HB Pier Open. Thornton came out of the gates quickly in the 25-minute final heat posting a solid 6.33 on his opening ride. Two waves later he nailed the final’s highest wave score of 7.50 to cement the win over runner-up Halstead. Coffin appeared to have run out of gas in the heat after his big conquest in the Men’s and settled for third followed by Clark in fourth. Thornton, who has won two of first four events is establishing a runaway ratings lead while Halstead’s second place finish will solidify his number two ranking.

In Open Women’s action, reigning National Champ Lakey Peterson took on Chandler Parr, who kept her 4-event finals streak alive, event #1 winner Alexa Frantz and Gold Coast leader Catherine Clark. Peterson heated thing up fast in the 25-minute final locking in a solid 7.33 score on her second ride. Parr kept it close with her big top to bottom turns but only managed to find one maneuver waves. Peterson narrowly edged out Parr for the win for the second time this season. Peterson is currently in the drivers seat in the Women’s standings having won three of the four contests thus far.

In the Boys division, Jacob Davis utilized his big top turns to claim his second victory of the season. He posted two solid scores of 7.83 and 6.17 to defeat reigning conference champion Kanoa Igarashi who took second. Davis, who has been turning heads this season with his improved stronger maneuvers, will now rocket to first in the ratings. 10-year-old Kairi Noro from Japan earned his first NSSA victory in the Mini Groms. Shaun Thompson continued his terrific run in the Longboard division collecting his fourth straight victory. The 16-year-old from Huntington Beach put on another stellar performance and for the second consecutive contest secured the highest heat totals of the entire event in the Longboard final-a 16.40 total on two wave scores of a near perfect 9.33 and a 7.07.

COMING UP IN CALI: The Southwest Explorer Season resumes with back-to-back action on tap. Explorer event #3 will hit the shores of San Onofre Trails on October 31-November 1 followed by event #4 on November 7-8 at Huntington Beach Pier. Next up for the Open Season is the 6-star rated event #5 at Church on November 14-15 with plenty of valuable points up for grabs and a lots of close races for the conference titles!

THE SCOREBOARD

RESULTS

SOUTHWEST CONFERENCE OPEN SEASON EVENT #4

OCEANSIDE PIER

OPEN MENS

1. Parker Coffin-Santa Barbara 14.03

2. Jake Halstead-La Jolla 10.50

3. Matt Hewitt-Mount Maunganui, New Zealand 7.95

4. Trevor Thornton-San Clemente 7.83

OPEN JUNIORS

1. Trevor Thornton-San Clemente 13.83

2. Jake Halstead-La Jolla 11.83

3. Parker Coffin-Santa Barbara 10.50

4. Taylor Clark-Encinitas 9.73

OPEN BOYS

1. Jacob Davis-Capistrano Beach 14.00

2. Kanoa Igarashi-Huntington Beach 11.66

3. Griffin Colapinto-San Clemente 11.57

4. Colt Ward-San Clemente 10.17

5. Jake Marshall-Encinitas 7.33

6. Cody Clemens-Carlsbad 5.90

OPEN MINI GROMS

1. Kairi Noro-San Clemente 10.74

2. Tyler Gunter-Newport Beach 9.33

3. Ryland Rubens-San Diego 7.25

4. Eithan Osborne-Ventura 5.13

5. Cole Houshmand-San Clemente 4.66

6. Nicholas Marshall-Encinitas 4.57

OPEN WOMENS

1. Lakey Peterson-Santa Barbara 11.83

2. Chandler Parr-Santa Monica 11.77

3. Alexa Frantz-San Diego 9.67

4. Catherine Clark-Ventura 5.33

OPEN LONGBOARD

1. Shaun Thompson-Huntington Beach 16.40

2. Justin Brand-Seal Beach 8.33

3. Lucas Foster-Carlsbad 7.34

4. Nathan Thompson-Huntington Beach 4.77

5. Stephanie Schechter-San Diego 4.27