NSSA NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
Friday, June 26, 2009
OPEN MENS ROUND 1 HEAT 24, ROUND 2 HEATS 1-12, ROUND 3 HEATS 1-6
OPEN WOMENS QUARTER FINALS HEATS 1-4
OPEN JUNIORS QUARTER FINALS HEATS 1-4
by Matt Lundgren
SurferMag.com Correspondent
Watch the live webcast now!

Lullaby Lowers began the day just like yesterday. Same marine layer, same swell size, same lulls. But when Courtney Conologue ducked into a quick barrel in the first heat of the Womens Quarter Finals, not only did she show why she’s the reigning queen, but made the beach wonder if we might see something special today. When the sun came out and the wind stayed off, it wasn’t all the neon running around that kept your eyes open anymore. If you stuck around through the afternoon, there were plenty of reasons to stay staring at the water.

It seemed the game to play out today would be the battle between heat approaches: practical and pragmatic, hopping on all the waves you could, vs. patience and prayer that the sets would come in time. Conologue took the former, saying “From watching the heats before, I wanted to get on the scoreboard first for a relaxed heat, and not to be worrying about it at the end.” The approach worked for her, but as the day wore on, it seemed those with patience reaped the greatest benefits.

While Open Mens Round 2 had some big highlights, including Balaram Stack’s Round 2 Heat 12 insane left, the best heat of the day came nearly at the end. Before getting into that, however, special applause needs to be doled out to Lahiki Minamishin, the Kona kid. Pulling double duty between Juniors and Mens, Minamishin pulled a seriously stacked heat in the Juniors Quarters heat 4, saying “I woke up this morning and I was flustered.” Surfing against Kolohe Andino, Koa Smith, and Evan Geiselman will do that to you, and it may get the best of you. Unless you’re Lahiki. “I was trying to play it patient because I know Brother and everyone else can get really big scores,” said Minamishin, and it paid off. The iron man pulled an 8.75 to add onto his only other wave of the juniors heat, and immediately followed it up by trading jerseys in the water and winning the Round 3 Mens Heat 1 as well.

As for Alex Smith, Evan Geiselman, and Tanner Hendrickson, they should be both excited and nervous to be surfing the Quarters heat 2 with Luke Davis. Excited because the kid seems to pull the best waves of the day to his heats, but nervous after his clutch performance today in the best heat of the day. In the waning moments of Round 3 Heat 5 of the Mens, Cool Hand Luke waited it out for the wave he needed, posting in the eights to find second place. First was long gone in the hands of golden boy Eric Geiselman, who took complete control of the heat posting a 9.75 and a perfect 10.

With a heaping helping of talent left to surf, tomorrow looks to be another great day.