Conner Coffin of Santa Barbara turned in a strong performance to reach the final of the Pro Junior Men’s Division at the Nike U.S. Open of Surfing on Saturday at the Huntington Beach Pier.
Coffin won the first semifinal heat with a score of 16.23, beating Brazil’s Filipe Toledo (14.46) and Hawaii’s Tanner Hendrickson (13.44) and Keanu Asing (11.57).
In the second semifinal, Hawaii’s John John Florence scored 16.10 and beat San Clemente’s Kolohe Andino (14.16), Dylan Goodale (12.13) of Hawaii and Colin Moran (7.70).
The top two surfers in each heat qualified for the final.
In that final, Toledo proved to be unstoppable in the rippable beachbreak conditions, and defeated Andino, 16, Florence, 17, and Coffin, 16, when he launched a flurry of frontside air-reverses to net a 15.17 out of 20 heat total in the Final.
“I feel unbelievable,” Toledo said. “Thanks to all of my Brazilian brothers and my new sponsor Nike and my family in Brazil. The wave here in Huntington is a beachbreak, just like Brazil and I think I’m a good surfer in these waves, it’s just unbelievable to win.”
Andino scored 13.96, Florence 13.47 and Coffin 11.44.
Coffin got off to a good start, putting down the best score on the first wave with a 5.17. But Toledo came back with a 7.67 on his second save and a 7.50 on his fourth to take command. Coffin’s best wave score of the heat was a 6.27 on his third wave.
Andino made a late run with scores of 7.23 and 6.73 on his third and fourth waves, but it wasn’t enough.
