Blaze Roche earns 4th place Finish - First Warrior to make the Final Round

By: SID Chase Dodge and Chelsea Taylor

 

Westcliff Surf on the 2nd day down south at the Seaside Reef had a total of 5 Warriors compete along with the women's division on Sunday! Blaze Roche was the highlight of the day. Blaze made it all the way to the final round the first warrior to make it that far. Blaze Roche as the only freshman surfer out there. He ultimately finished 4th out of 160+ surfers. Congratulations Blaze on your hard work. 

 

Ninon Mattei unfortunately was out in round 1. She had few waves to pick from, and when she finally found the wave she needed to place top 3 to advance, it was a few seconds after the buzzer and unfortunately did not count.

 

Sierra Lim - similar situation to Ninon with a trick wave selection. Not many waves were caught by any girls in this heat, and Sierra didn't find what she needed to advance to the next round. 

 

 

Jack Hopkins and Bryce Mattox were put in the same heat for the 2nd time. They were still on fire from yesterday catching a great waves and what we thought were enough to advance to the quarterfinals, but the judges did not agree.  

 

Jake Shiroke was up next with an solid left that we thought would also lock him in the the quarters, but came out just shy of advancing. 

 

Blaze Roche was the last of round 3 and determined to advance with a strategy we found earlier in the day. Which was to sit out the back and just wait for the set waves. Sure enough he was able to snag just the waves he needed to advance, being the 1 out of the 4 men in the 3rd round to move to the quarterfinals.

 

 

Ian Livesay was stoked to have great waves in his heat, he walked to the nose with style and strategy to wait for the good waves. Patience paid off and he was in to the quarterfinals.

 

In the quarterfinals Ian and the other surfers had plenty of waves to share as they were able to show off their tricks. Ian surfed so well but came up short by 0.2.  So his day ended with a great heat but no semi's.

 

 

Blaze Roche tore up his heat to come out with a heat win and made it to the semifinals. 

 

 

With being able to start with a 1 min paddle out to give the surfers a head start to the heat, Blaze out paddled the other guys to one of the best waves to come through this heat! He wrapped some incredible carves and set him in a great position.  Not too long after he snagged another bomb of a wave that secured his spot as the rest of the heat went flat. 

 

 

Blaze Roche- not sure how things were gonna go and a little intimidated being the only freshman surfer in the heat with all of the seasoned surfers, he earned mad respect for his hustle, big turns and great finishes!

 

Blaze surprised himself with a well deserved and earned 4th place to make Westcliff History as the first ever Men's Shortboard Finalist.

 

 

"Everyone brought it this weekend. We quickly learned what the judges were looking for. Even though we think we deserved a little more with some heats.  We were happy with our performance overall as we at one point were tied for 5th place, with the points we scored after the first 3 rounds. Nothing to improve, the skills are there, we just need Mother Nature to keep providing great surf." - Coach Chelsea Taylor

 

What's Next?  Westcliff Surf will be returning to Seaside Reef March 4-6 for the state competition. The Warriors goal to qualify for Nationals