NSSA - National Scholastic Surfing Association

The National Scholastic Surfing Association (NSSA) is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to encourage and assist its members in their interest to learn and develop the fundamentals and skills of surfing competition while competing in structured and quality events. The NSSA promotes the qualities of discipline and competitive excellence while supporting the merits of academic achievement to young surfers. The NSSA strives to provide a fun surfing experience for all of its members.

The NSSA is one of the few national youth sports organizations that require its participants to maintain academic standards in order to compete. Since 1978, the NSSA program philosophy has been that athletics and scholastics go hand in hand. More than 80 NSSA events are run nationwide that culminate with the annual National Championships which is regarded as the highest profile youth surfing event in America.


SOUTHWEST EXPLORER #2 AT OCEANSIDE

Wednesday, October 19, 2005 | Written by Janice Aragon

NSSA SOUTHWEST CONFERENCE

EXPLORER SEASON EVENT #2

OCEANSIDE SOUTH JETTY

OCTOBER 15-16, 2005

CONDITIONS:  

 

2005/06 NSSA SPONSORS- HURLEY INTERNATIONAL, BODY GLOVE, OAKLEY, HUNTINGTON SURF AND SPORT, FREESTYLE, OP, BILLABONG, SURFING MAGAZINE, SURFLINE, SNYPER SURF, CHANNEL ISLANDS, SEX WAX.

 

Andrew's "10" was a masterpiece.

 

Another big weekend for the NSSA Southwest Conference with over 400 surfers competing at Oceanside South Jetty on the second stop of the Explorer Season.  Mushy peaks were on tap for Saturday but thanks to an autumn storm blowing through the California coast, the waves picked up on Sunday with fun, shifty windswell peaks.  But that’s not the topper.  Just minutes after the finals started, the wind turned slightly off shore for a beautiful evening glass off and the finalists were treated to near epic conditions.  We even saw our first perfect Explorer “10” of the season compliments of the stellar performance by Andrew Doheny in the Boys final.  Explorer Divisions are offered in Men’s, Juniors, Boys, Menehuene, Womens, Girls, Masters, Seniors, Super Seniors and Longboard.  

 

Ryan Burch went the full distance in jam-packed Juniors division.

 

EXPLORER #2 WRAPUP

It wasn’t just the weather but changes were in the air in the victory department with a completely different pack of winners from Explorer event #1 in Huntington.  Todd Hutton was not in the least bit satisfied with his disappointing HB quarterfinal finish, so he put the boxing gloves on and slugged out the victory in the Mens.  Long time NSSA surfer Joe Ghio returned to competition placing second (Joe surfed many a NSSA heat with WCT surfer Timmy Reyes back in the late 90’s).  Ryan Burch picked up his first win of the season topping the giant field of 102 Junior surfers.  Ryan earned a 6.5 and 5.5 wave score to edge out runner up Eric Snortum who was the only repeat finalist from Explorer #1.  The best display of the entire contest came in the Boys final.  Conditions turned from good to absolutely incredible with glassy, overhead prime lefts and rights pouring through in what was the second to last final of the day.  Andrew Doheny claimed the first perfect 10 of the season, blowing up on an O’Side nugget that peeled forever.  He started off with a sick barrel (the best tube of the year so far!), followed it up with a polished figure eight, and then unleashed two huge lip bashes to perfection.  Andrew wasn’t finished throwing buckets yet.  He nailed another 9.0 score for a monster combined heat total of 19.0!  In the Menehuene division, Peruvian hot grom Cristobol DeCol paid a visit to the Southwest Conference and made a huge impression winning the final with a pair of 7.5 scores.  The talented lad was even seen launching a couple aerials in his heats throughout the day.  HB’s Sara Taylor is on a roll coming off her big win at Open event #2 at Ponto.  She carved out another victory in the Explorer Womens final and will be in her home turf at HB Pier for this weekend’s Open #3.  In the Girls division, Alexa Dilley took her first victory of the season.  Micah Pitts won the Masters, Dale Baker won the Super Seniors and Billy Harris clinched the Longboard.  The Seniors division was the last final of the day but it was worth the wait.  You can always count on this division providing the colorful head to head clashes. Conditions were awesome and so was the Neil Bern show.  Neil went ballistic on a set left in the final minutes of the final collected a close to perfect 9.5 score.  A jovial Neil after his heat said, “I felt like Clay Marzo out there.  I know he’s only 16 but he’s my idol.”  We know what you mean Neil.  We’re still buzzing around here about Clay’s incredible Nationals display!

 

 

Neil "Marzo" Bern pulling out all the stops in Seniors.

 

COMING UP IN CALI:  Here’s the lineup.  Open Season #3 at HB Pier on October 22-23.  Gold Coast #6 at C Street on October 29.  Southwest College Season #1 at C Street on October 30.  Southwest Explorer Season #3 at Trails, San Onofre on November 5-6.  Open Season #4 at Church Beach on November 12-13.  Southwest Explorer Season #4 at HB Pier on November 19-20.  Then it’s Turkey Break!

 

Sara Taylor, a new force in the Womens division.

 

THE SCOREBOARD

SOUTHWEST EXPLORER SEASON #2

Oceanside South Jetty

Final scores based on top 2 waves

 

MENS

1.  Todd Hutton-Huntington Beach 12.5

2.  Joe Ghio-San Diego 10.0

3.  Quinn McCrystal-Huntington Beach 9.0

4.  Joey Head-Newport Beach 8.0

5.  Ricky Schaffer-Woodland Hills 6.5

6.  Scott Cole- 6.0

 

JUNIORS

1.  Ryan Burch-Encinitas 12.0

2.  Eric Snortum-Leucadia 10.5

3.  Bryce Dehaan-Huntington Beach 9.5

4.  Quinn McCrystal-Huntington Beach 8.5

5.  Daniel Blasé-San Diego 8.0

6.  AJ Collins-Seal Beach 6.5

 

BOYS

1.  Andrew Doheny-Newport Beach 19.0

2.  JD MacFaden-Oceanside 11.0

3.  Kolohe Andino-San Clemente 10.5

4.  Eli Viszolay-Laguna Beach 8.0

5.  David Price-San Clemente 7.0

6.  Tyler Hallen-Laguna Hills 6.5

 

MENEHUENE

1.    Christobol DeCol-Peru 15.0

2.    Kolohe Andino-San Clemente 13.5

3.    Luke Davis-Capo Beach 10.0

4.    Kelly Zaun-Hollyglen 9.0

5.    Taylor Thorne-Newport Beach 6.0

6.    Taylor Clark-Encinitas 5.0

 

WOMENS

1.    Sara Taylor-Huntington Beach 11.0

2.    Kristi Rife-San Diego 8.0

3.    Terumi Nakajima-Huntington Beach 7.5

4.    Zara Huntley-La Jolla 5.5

5.    Chloe Cruse-San Clemente 5.0

6.    Oleema Miller-San Clemente 2.5

 

GIRLS

1.    Alexa Dilley-Encinitas 8.0

2.    Chandler Parr-Santa Monica 7.0

3.    Tara Franz-San Juan Capistrano 5.5

4.    Caity Griffin-Cardiff by the Sea 5.0

5.    Alyssa Whitaker-San Clemente 3.5

6.    Taylor Garrett- 3.0

 

MASTERS

1.    Micah Pitts-San Clemente 16.0 \

2.    Chad Mitchell-Dana Point 12.0

3.    Dylan McNamara-San Diego 8.0

4.    Jon Moellendick-Manhattan Beach 7.5

5.    YuFu Penrose-San Clemente 7.0

6.    Enich Harris-Laguna Beach 6.0

 

SENIORS

1.    Neil Bern-Carlsbad 14.5

2.    Ty Cukr-Murrieta 12.0

3.    Terry Gillard-Imperial Beach 10.0

4.    Craig Macia-San Diego 9.0

5.    Mike Gillard-Coronado 8.5

6.    Darren Limbach-Huntington Beach 8.0

 

SUPER SENIORS

1.    Dale Baker-San Clemente 12.5

2.    Tim Senneff-Del Mar 12.0

3.    Patrick Schlick-La Mirada 10.0

4.    Bill MacLeod-Rolling Hills Estates 7.5

5.    Randy Fox-Newport Beach 6.5

6.    Kyle Twitchell-San Clemente 4.5

 

LONGBOARD

1.   Billy Harris-San Diego 11.5

2.  Troy Mothershead-San Clemente 10.0

3.  Kevin Osborne-San Clemente 8.5

4.  Christian Clark-Encinitas 7.5\

5.  Terry Gillard-Imperial Beach 5.0

6.  Chase Stavron-Capistrano Beach 4.5