Elite Toyota USA Surfing Prime Series Heats Up at Church San Onofre State Beach March 30-31

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No. 2-ranked Lakey Peterson at the 2009 USA Surfing Prime Series event at Church

​San Onofre, Calif. (March 28, 2018) – The West Coast Toyota USA Surfing Prime Series presented by Got Milk? is coming to Church at San Onofre State Beach this weekend, March 30 and 31. More than 100 of the best under 18 surfers on the West Coast will compete for cumulative points that qualify to surf at USA Surfing national championships in June at Lower Trestles. View heat draws in above file. 
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“With just two events left in the West Coast Prime, excitement is building. The battle for titles and a chance to surf at Championships makes for some intense competition and big performances,” said USA Surfing CEO Greg Cruse. 
 
USA Surfing’s junior national team coach Brett Simpson is looking forward to seeing what the athletes bring to this weekend’s Prime. “With Church being a long right-hand point break, we’ll be looking for some long drawn out maneuvers executed with flow,” Simpson said. “The long waves and long paddles will also be a test of endurance. Let’s see who puts it all together!” 
 
The Prime Series at Church was part of No. 2-ranked Lakey Peterson’s path to the World Surf Leagues Championship Tour. She competed in the 2009 Prime Series at Church – the same year she performed the first female aerial maneuver in competition to take the NSSA Open Women’s Surf title at age 14. 
 
The Surfline forecast calls for conditions to pick up through the weekend. Starting with WNW/SSW swell combo waves should be in the three-foot range for Friday and build to 4-5 feet for Saturday and Sunday. The long sloping rights at The Church give surfers plenty of face for all kinds of maneuvers. 
 
Church is the eighth of nine stops in the elite, cross-country Prime Series competition. The invite-only Prime Series is a competition among surfers who placed highest in regional competitions held by USA Surfing’s affiliate organizations – the Western Surfing Association, Eastern Surfing Association, National Scholastic Surfing Association and Texas Gulf Surfing Association. 
 
USA Surfing’s Prime Series was created to bridge the gap young surfers experience when making the jump to the bigger leagues of surfing, including a position on the USA Surfing national teams, the World Surf League (WSL) Qualifying Series, the WSL Championship Tour and potentially the Olympic Games. The Prime format provides surfers with an experience similar to WSL pro events with professional WSL/ISA judges and announcers, four-person heats using priority, computer scoring live on the STACT App and instant replay for the judges. 
 
Several current WSL pro surfers honed their competitive skills through USA Surfing’s Prime Series, which celebrates its 10th anniversary this year. Sixteen-year-old Caroline Marks, currently ranked No. 6 in the WSL, qualified for the Championship Tour while still competing in the Prime Series. Other greats include 2018 US Open champions Courtney Conlogue and Kanoa Igarashi, Conner Coffin, Kolohe Andino, and Griffin Colapinto.
 
The finale event of the Toyota USA Surfing Prime Series will be May 4 – 5, 2019 – USA Surfing Prime Junior Event at a location announced in early April. 
 
Contact: becky (at) usasurfing (dot) org
USA Surfing is the National Governing Body for surfing in the United States, recognized by the International Surfing Association (ISA) and the United States Olympic Committee (USOC). USA Surfing’s mission is to promote and grow the sport of surfing and support United States athletes of all backgrounds to achieve sustained competitive excellence in Olympic, Paralympic, Pan American and Parapan American competition. USA Surfing will oversee and support America’s Olympic team as surfing makes its debut in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, and surfing and stand-up paddleboarding athletes compete in the 2019 Pan American Games.