LIHU‘E — Kaua‘i saw strong representation at the 2010 National Scholastic Surfing Association as Kaimana Jaquias won the Nationals Open Men’s title and Leila Hurst was the Explorer Women’s champion, while Nage Melamed faced a disputed decision in the Open
LIHU‘E — Kaua‘i saw strong representation at the 2010 National Scholastic Surfing Association as Kaimana Jaquias won the Nationals Open Men’s title and Leila Hurst was the Explorer Women’s champion, while Nage Melamed faced a disputed decision in the Open Women’s championship heat, Sunday at South Huntington Beach Pier.
According to a report filed by Global Surf News, Jaquias launched out to an early lead in the 30-minute final matchup with a solid 8.25 out of 10, but struggled to find a second backup score until the last few minutes of the heat. The Hawaiian regular-footer locked into a wedgy right-hander breaking off of South Huntington Beach Pier by cracking several forehand turns to overtake then heat leader Conner Coffin to win the 2010 Open Men’s National Title.
“I’m on top of the moon right now,” Jaquias said. “I got that 8.25 at the beginning and I was just hoping I could get another one. Conner (Coffin) got that second 5.00 and I was just praying to God that I could get another wave to take over the lead.”
Jaquias’ prestigious victory also puts his name on the list of NSSA champions including his father Kaipo Jaquias, who was the 1987 Open Junior Champion.
“I’m just so happy to have my name up there with my father,” Jaquias said. “I wanted to have my name up there with his.”
Kaimana took the championship with a 14.25 final heat score, with Conner taking second with a 12.50. Parker Coffin grabbed third (7.10) and Evan Geiselman was fourth (6.75) in the 67-surfer field that began the event.
Ka‘oli Kahokuloa, Kyle Galtes, Troy Weston-Webb and Gavin Klein also came to compete from Kaua‘i, though Ka‘oli was the only to advance out of the opening round, then falling just 0.70 points shy of moving beyond his second-round heat.
Lakey Peterson won her second consecutive NSSA National Open Women’s title when the final heat leader, Nage Melamed, earned an interference in the dying minutes of the matchup to cut the young Kauaian’s second score in half. The disputed ruling against Melamed proved to be enough to push Peterson back into the lead for this year’s win.
“That was not the way I wanted to win, but a win is a win and I’ll take it,” Peterson said. “I feel really bad for Nage (Melamed). She surfed really well and I really feel for her. She’s a sweet girl and I just feel bad for her, but I’m happy at the same time.”
Peterson netted a final heat score of 9.50 for the crown, with Melamed seeing her official score end at 8.15. Nage’s two top scores were 5.75 and 4.80, but the interference call cut 2.40 points off of that second score.
Alexa Frantz took third with a 6.50 and Catherine Clark was fourth with a 5.00.
Kaua‘i surfers Hurst, Brianna Cope, Mainei Kinimaka and Kiana Fores also competed in the Open Women’s event.
Although the defending champion had a slow heat, she was elated to tack another NSSA Open Women’s title on to her list of accomplishments.
“Really, I couldn’t be happier,” Peterson said. “The waves didn’t really offer much out there, but I did what I could with the ones that I got. That’s how surfing is.”
Keala Naihe took out the NSSA National Open Junior’s title in impressive fashion with a come-from-behind victory. The young Hawaiian punted a fully committed air-reverse to post a much needed 8.50 out of 10 to catapult Naihe from the back of the pack into the lead for the win.
“I’m super stoked, the waves are hard to surf out there and I just got lucky,” Naihe said. “I was getting nervous and knew I had to go for broke at the end.”
Naihe was also elated to have his name alongside the stack of surfing icons who have won the Open Junior’s division in the past.
“All of the guys that have won this division in the past have gone on to be super successful, so I’m stoked to take this win,” Naihe said. To catch highlights from the 2010 NSSA Nationals log on to nssalive.com for video presented by Nike 6.0.
