Lakey Peterson navigated through the onshore afternoon conditions to net the highest heat-total of women’s competition, 14.33 out of 20, to advance through to the junior semifinals at the Nike U.S. Open of Surfing on Saturday at the Huntington Beach Pier.
Peterson is competing in the ASP 4-Star Pro Junior, which includes some of the world’s best under-21 surfers. Peterson is also scheduled to compete in the Open Women’s Division, which begins Monday.
Peterson will be joined by Pauline Abo of France, Laura Enever of Australia and Hawaii’s Malia Manuel in the semifinals.
“It was really hard out there, but I kept reminding myself that everyone has to surf the same thing and that really helped me,” Peterson said. “I’m really stoked to get that first heat win.”
In the Junior Men’s competition, Santa Barbara’s Parker Coffin won his Round of 64 heat with a 10.17, but finished third in his Round of 48 heat. He scored 8.34 and finished behind American Taylor Clark (11.76) and Australia’s Matt-Lewis Hewitt (10.66).
