Hopkins, Mattox Make Day 2 at NSSA HB Open

By BRANDON PETERSEN

Westcliff Surf had a resoundingly successful Day 1 in Huntington Beach Saturday at the NSSA Conference Open. The men's team took center stage and pushed four surfers through to the championship qualifying rounds.

Jack Hopkins and Bryce Mattox then made it through to the championship rounds on Sunday. They will begin surfing at approximately 9 a.m.

Cole Futak and Blaze Roche just missed the cut after qualifying out of the first round, and there was a bit of controversy as Roche felt one of his waves was missed by the judges.

Nevertheless, it was a magnificent morning for the program.

"We did awesome," Westcliff Surf assistant coach Chelsea Ehlen said. "We came out with great excitement to put Westcliff on the map."

That's exactly what they did.

Westcliff competed alongside blue-bloods in the college surfing world including UC Santa Cruz and Cal Poly SLO as well as big-name NCAA DI programs BYU, USC and UCLA.

For many college-bound surfers, Westcliff is a more attractive option – for one obvious reason.

"To give kids (academic scholarship) money for surfing – it's unheard of," Ehlen said. "People that I talk to are like, 'No way. (Westcliff does) that?'

"A lot of these other schools don't have the luxury of that kind of backing. So, we're very lucky, and we're very excited to make a statement here."

Up and down the roster, Westcliff stood toe-to-toe with those other programs in front of a sizable home crowd on Westcliff's home sand.

"It's really awesome to be out here," Ehlen said. "With all of these guys being from around here, especially Blaze – he's like the HB local – they're just really stoked to be able to put Westcliff on the map. We're still turning heads. We're winning heats.

"People may not quite know what to think of us yet, we come with our big tent, and our cool gear and we're making a statement."

In Irvine, the Warriors are attempting to push the sport to a new level.

"The biggest thing we want to do is make surfing just like any other sport," Ehlen said. "We definitely are doing that. We have grad school students competing in surfing.

"To be able to surf and go to school is such a luxury because usually if these kids are trying to go pro, they have to pick on or the other."

Robbie Crist started the morning off for Westcliff, but his heat didn't feature many favorable waves and he didn't move on. Several other Warriors found the conditions less-than-favorable as well.

"It was kind of windy and kind of rough," Ehlen said. "A lot of guys were scrambling out there just to see what they could get. But that's just mother nature. We just have to deal with it."

Futak took first place in his heat during the opening round.

Jake Shiroke found a couple of good waves but was unable to advance to the qualifying rounds.

On Sunday, the women's team will get started at 7:00 am, when Ninon Mattei hits the water.

Sierra Lim will follow her in the 7:15 heat.

Ian Livesay will compete for Westcliff in the he longboard competition at 10:45 a.m.

If you want to come on out and cheer the Warriors on during the championship rounds, you can find the Westcliff tent near Lifeguard Station 3, just south of the Huntington Pier.

Plenty of parking is available in the First Street lot.

To contact Brandon Petersen, e-mail brandonpetersen@westcliff.edu.