San Clemente, Calif. (May 2, 2021) – Toyota USA Surfing Prime Series surfers and families celebrated San Clemente’s first sporting event since the start of Covid with some solid swell and excellent surfing!
One hundred and twenty-five of the nation’s best under 18 West Coast surfers competed in dawn to dusk heats at the fourth stop of the Toyota USA Surfing West Coast Prime Series presented by Got Milk? at T Street with 4- to -5-feet glassy wave conditions.
With just one more West Coast event of the season, surfers pushed into the homestretch with their best performances, working to build points and rankings that qualify them for USA Surfing Championship at Lower Trestles, Calif. in June. The Toyota USA Surfing Prime Series is the highest level of junior amateur competition in the nation. See results below and rankings here.
As the hometown of Team USA Olympic surfer Kolohe Andino, training ground for Olympic surfer Caroline Marks, home to USA Surfing and two soon-to-be-painted Olympic surfing murals, San Clemente is a special place.
Highlights included hometown surfer Taj Lindblad winning the Boys 18 with big airs and deep rail turns. His sister Sawyer Lindblad had the highest score of the day in the Girls 18 semifinal – a three-piece frontside snap to carve to big hit re-entry for a 9.67.
It was another double win for Oceanside’s Caity Simmers in the Girls U16 and U18 divisions. She combo’d the field in her Girls U16 and closed out the Girls U18 with a set-wave left snap to huge carve on the lip line of the close out for a 9.5 that pushed her to the top. Greyson Grant from Encinitas won the Boys U16 division and San Juan Capistrano’s Lucas Cassity Senkbeil won the Boys U14.
STOP #4 RESULTS
Girls U18
1st Caitlin Simmers, Oceanside, Calif.
2nd Bella Kenworthy, San Clemente, Calif.
3rd Sierra Downer, San Clemente, Calif.
4th Sawyer Lindblad, San Clemente, Calif.
Boys U18
1st Taj Lindblad, San Clemente, Calif.
2nd Levi Slawson, Encinitas, Calif.
3rd Trevor Berry, Ventura, Calif.
4th Braeden Kopec, Ponce Inlet, Fla.
Girls U16
1st Caitlin Simmers, Oceanside, Calif.
2nd Sawyer Lindblad, San Clemente, Calif.
3rd JuJu Romaniuk, Huntington Beach, Calif.
4th Isabelle Kryger, Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif.
Boys U16
1st Greyson Grant, Encinitas, Calif.
2nd Jak Ziets, Santa Barbara, Calif.
3rd Lucas Owston, Oceanside, Calif.
4th Titus Santucci, Encinitas, Calif.
Boys U14
1st Lucas Cassity Senkbeil, San Juan Capistrano, Calif.
2nd Chase Niemann, San Clemente, Calif.
3rd Rex Hennings, San Clemente, Calif.
4th Petey Romaniuk, Huntington Beach, Calif.
The Toyota USA Surfing Prime Series makes stops along both East and West coasts and culminates in the USA Surfing Championships. The competition was created to bridge the gap young surfers experience when trying to make the leap from pro junior competition to next-level competition opportunities, including a position on the USA Surfing national teams, the World Surf League (WSL) Qualifying Series and potentially the Olympics and WSL Championship Tour. The Prime Series champion and podium roster is a who’s who in American surfing.
Surfers competing in the Prime Series experience an event with judging, announcing and organization consistent with WSL pro events, including professional WSL/ISA judges and announcers, four-person heats with priority, computer scoring live on the STACT App and instant replay for the judges.
USA Surfing’s Prime Series is grateful for the support of our fabulous sponsors. We miss seeing them at events under Covid-19 restrictions, but expect they will resume their beach participation soon. Please buy their products and support the companies that support USA Surfing:
American Optometric Association
Rise Brewing - Nitro Cold Brewed Coffee
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 and Paralympic Committee (USOPC). 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.
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