Courtney Conlogue and Lakey Peterson power into Nike US Open of Surfing quarter-finals
America’s Courtney Conlogue and her fellow countryperson Lakey Peterson continued their excellent run at the Nike US Open of Surfing, final stop on the 2012 Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) Women’s World Championship Tour, claiming top honours
in their respective Round 3 heats that went down at Huntington Beach in California, America, on Wednesday, August 1.
While Conlogue took the win in the first heat to advance through into the quarter-finals, Australia’s Tyler Wright and America’s Sage Erickson got relegated to Round 4.
The result of the second heat came out in favour of Peterson, consequently sending her into the quarter-finals., while Australia’s Stephanie Gilmore and Hawaii’s Malia Manuel were forced to take a trip to the fourth round.
The latest day of the competition continued to have one-to-three foot waves breaking at the primary event site, forming a pretty solid stage for the elite ASP female surfers to put on a memorable show for the crowd.
Pitted against Wright and Erickson in the first heat of Round 3, Conlogue put on a sensational performance to collect the event’s highest scores. She earned an 8.17 off her first business-wave and soon backed it up with a 9.10-point ride to reach a heat-total
of 17.27 points. The score comfortably held up until the end to see her off to victory.
Wright finished in second place with a heat-total of 12.00 points, while Erickson had to settle for last place after scoring a 4.27 and 5.13 off her best-two waves.
The second heat saw Peterson exhibit a prime form as she squared-off with the freshly crowned five-time ASP Women’s World Champion Gilmore and the Hawaiian sensation Manuel.
The 17-year-old local rose up to the challenge and put on an exquisite show. Locking her first business-wave, she posted an 8.33 on the score-board and followed it up with an 8.40-point ride to finish with a resultant heat-total of 16.73 points. The score
was massive and brought desirable a desirable result for the Californian.
“Going into it with Malia (Manuel) and Steph (Gilmore) is a pretty tough draw,” Peterson said. “Obviously Steph just won a World Title, so I was pretty nervous. I just stuck to my game plan of getting two turns out the back and tried to finish them. “It’s
a little tricky out there and you had to get aggressive, but I’m stoked. I feel like I’m just learning but I’m happy to just make it to the Quarters.”
Gilmore collected a couple of scores in the six-point range to finish with a heat-total of 13.43 points, while Manuel had to settle for a heat-total of 11.17 points, which included a 5.00 and 6.17-point ride.
Tags: