Lakey Peterson his hoisted on the shoulders of fans at Huntington Beach Pier after winning the U.S. Open Junior Women's Pro title on Saturday.
Santa Barbara’s Lakey Peterson pulled off an 8.50 on her second wave and overtook Malia Manuel of Hawaii en route to winning the Nike U.S. Open of Surfing Pro Junior Women’s championship at the Huntington Beach Pier on Saturday.
Peterson, who totaled 16.07 points on four waves, beat Manuel (12.67), Australia’s Laura Enever (12.36) and Hawaii’s Coco Ho (3.66) for the title.
“It’s amazing to win this event,” Peterson, 16, said. “I was looking at the trophy before I paddled out and I was like ‘I want that thing so bad.’ Nike does such a great job and I’d like to thank them for putting on this event. It’s been an amazing day. The final wasn’t really serious, we were all laughing and cracking jokes, it was really fun.”
Manuel took the early lead with 7.67 score on the first wave to Peterson’s 0.83. But Peterson came back with her 8.50 and secured the title with a 7.57 on her fourth and final wave. The best score Manuel could come up with was a 5.00 on her fourth wave. Enever’ best wave score was a 6.93.
It was an epic day for Peterson. Besides winning the Junior title, she advanced to the semifinals in the Women’s Pro Division. She ousted Enever, 18, in the quarterfinals and will face top-seedd Carissa Moore of Hawaii in the semifinals. Peterson beat Moore in the first round of the Women’s Pro.
“I’m actually shaking pretty bad right now,” Peterson said. “I’m just really excited. I got to the Semifinals last year as a 6-Star but it’s a World Tour event this year. I’m surfing against Carissa (Moore) in the Semifinals. She’s a great friend and I’m looking forward to surfing against her, she always pushes me to surf the best that I can.”
Moore, winner of last year’s ASP 6-Star Hurley U.S. Open of Surfing, took a come-from-behind victory over local favorite Courtney Conlogue (Santa Ana), 17, in their quarterfinal matchup. She blasted the day’s highest single-wave score of 8.93 while taking the highest heat-total of 16.53 (out of 20) with committed and polished forehand surfing.
“I had my back up against the wall,” Moore said. “I ended up really far down the beach from Courtney (Conlogue) and we kind of were surfing different peaks and I was just hoping the waves would come. In the beginning, Courtney got the better of it and got that sick left and I felt like if I was going to go out, I’d want to go out kicking and screaming. Luckily some waves came.”
Lakey Peterson celebrates with her father, Dave, after winning U.S. Open Junior Women's title. (Photos by Kevin Voegtlin)
