Week three of the National Scholastic Surfing Association took place this week in Oceanside and the huge waves and great swell accounted for many high scores, first time winners, a perfect 10 and a double champion.
To Municiple Pier, here we go.
OPEN MENS
Finalists: Lucas Senkbeil, Titus Santucci, Wheeler Hasburgh, Hayden Rodgers
In a hotly contested and stacked final, Senkbeil won his first Men's Open title of the season.
With tough conditions in the afternoon tide, Senkbeil put up the highest wave of the heat, a 7.33 right off the bat and proved to be too hard to catch.
He later added a 6.10 for a 13.43 heat total. Santucci, aiming for a second straight title, had back-to-back waves of 6.80 and 6.50 but fell just short with a 13.30.
Hasburgh had a 5.63/10.46 for third.
Santucci has finished in the top two in all three of this seasons NSSA events.
OPEN WOMENS
Finalists: Ava Wagester, Sara Freyre, Audry Denos, Hana Johnson
On Saturday Ava Wagester was in San Diego claiming third place in the WSA event at Ocean Beach. Sunday, she fared quite a bit better.
The four women's finalists battled through less-than-ideal wave conditions and Wagester was able to come through for her first NSSA title.
The 16-year-old held off reigning national champion Sara Freyre thanks to a late 5.13 wave total. Her heat score of 9.33, just managed top the 8.83 put up by Freyre.
Earlier on the day. Freyre had a huge 15.57 heat score in the semifinals on waves of 7.07 and 8.50. She was attempting to win back-to-back titles.
Audrey Denos had a good day, registering a 7.50/13.67 in the semifinals and Wagester had a 7.00/10.90 in the quarterfinals.
OPEN JUNIORS (u16)
Finalists: Lucas Senkbeil , Ren Okano, Eeli Timperi , Dylan Sloan
Senkbeil, the top seed in the division based on his top two finish in both events this year, won his second title of the day in dominating fashion.
Not long after winning the men's open title, he took to the water again and put-up scores of 7.53 and 6.50 for a 14.03 heat total. His 7.53 came on his next to last wave and put an exclamation point on his day.
Ren Okano, in his first event of the season, was slashing all weekend. He put up a 8.50/14.33 in round one and and 8.93/15.10 in the semi-finals. In the final, he held an early lead on scores of 6.73 and 5.17 but couldn't find anything higher late to catch Senkbeil.
Both Timperi and Sloan had good runs to get into the finals.
OPEN GIRLS (u16)
Finalists: Reid Van Wagoner, Maddie Stanton, Gwyneth Lyon, Marlo Leigh Harris
Reid Van Wagoner won her first NSSA 16-under title.
She did it thanks in part to a late score of 6.97 that gave her a heat score of 13.37 to lock up the win.
In an earlier heat, she put up a 7.67 score in an event high 14.10 heat score for her.
"I'm so stoked on my first win, the other girls were ripping so hard," said the 13-year-old from Carlsbad. " I've made finals and come in 2nd a bunch, so it felt really good to finally get the first-place photo.
"I found some good lefts, but my backside turns scored the highest. I was lucky to find a couple good waves in the last minute of the final."
Maddie Stanton won both her qualifying heats to get into the final and finished second.
OPEN BOYS (u14)
Finalists: Tanner Sandvig, Jaime Veselko, Jett Maughan, Rintaro Suneya
With all the qualifying happening on Saturday, Tanner Sandvig returned for just one heat Sunday and made the most of it by taking the under 14 title.
He put himself in position early with a 6.00 on his third wave and nailed it down late with his last wave score of 7.50.
His 13.50 total put him in front of Jaime Veselko and Jett Maughan who each put up heat scores over 10.00 in finishing second and third respectively.
Sandvig won an Explorer title a week ago and now has his first Open title of the season.
Runner up Veselko had a huge score in the quarter finals when he put up a wave score of 8.17 in a 15.44 heat total.
OPEN SUPER GIRLS (U14)
Finalists: Zoey Kaina, Eden Walla, Bailey Turner, Marlo Leigh Harris
Zoey Kaina was slashing all weekend and the result was her second title of the season.
She stamped herself as a finals favorite when she sailed through the semifinal with a huge score of 17.23 (of a possible 20). She did it on back-to-back waves of 8.83 and 8.40. She also had a 7.77 in that heat that didn't factor.
In tougher finals conditions, she fought her way to scores of 6.10 and 5.50 for a 11.60, enough to hold off a late challenge by Eden Walla, who's 10.93 was second best.
Walla, who just returned for a three week stay in Indonesia, won her semifinal heat with a 9.17/16.57 score.
OPEN MINI GROMS (u12)
Finalists: Moses Hennings, Zion Walla, Shuto Lida, Gerrit Bakker
Moses Hennings, competing in the 12 and under division for the first time, took the title. It was the sixth career NSSA title for the 10-year-old.
He was second best in the semifinals, losing only the Zion Walla, who put up a perfect 10 in a 17.77 heat total.
Once in the finals, the two were head-to-head again, with Walla's 8.17 and Hennings 7.93 on early heat waves.
But it was the backup score of 4.30 Hennings achieved that made the difference and Walla could get only a 3.43 back up score.
OPEN MINI GROMS GIRLS (u12)
Finalists: Ruby Stringfellow, Peeta Kenworthy, Zoe Panettiere, Tyler Stanton
Ruby Stringfellow made it back-to-back title wins as she took the crown at Oceanside with a close victory over runner up Peeta Kenworthy. It was the second straight event they finished 1-2.
Stringfellow fought her way to scores of 5.50 and 4.83 for a 10.33 to hold off Kenworthy, who made a late run at her with scores of 5.57 and 4.63 (10.20).
In the semifinal, Stringfellow put up a 7.97/13.47 score and Kenworthy managed a 7.83/13.66 total.
OPEN BOYS (u10)
Finalists: Cruz Freyre, Zackery Taylor, Cash Schillmoeller
Cruz Freyre took his second title in three weeks.
It was his huge 8.00 score that did it in his final heat of 15.33. Zackery Taylor and Cash Schillmoeller finished second and third.
Next up, NSSA will hold its collegiate event next week at Blacks Beach in San Diego and Open# 4 is scheduled for October 29-30th at Huntington Beach.