Santa Barbara’s Lakey Peterson pulled off the surprise of the first round in the women’s competition at the Nike U.S. Open of Surfing on Monday at the Huntington Beach Pier.
Peterson, 16, upset Hawaii’s Carissa Moore, the recently crowned ASP Women’s World Champion in a close heat. Peterson scored 13.20 to Moore’s 13.10 to win Heat 3.
Moore rebounded in Round 2.
“Carissa surfs absolutely unbelievable obviously and I was just stoked to surf against her,” Peterson said. “It’s an honor to surf against the world champ and a great friend. I’m sure she’ll do great in the rest of the comp, but it was a bit of a confidence booster to win that one.”
Moore, 18, won the U.S. Open last year.
“I started off the day coming in second in my Round 1 heat to Lakey and it was pretty frustrating,” Moore said. “I wanted to come in to my first event after winning the Women’s World Title pretty strong, but unfortunately I didn’t make it through. I almost missed my Round 2 heat, but luckily I didn’t and I made it through and I’m on to the third round.”
The women return to the surf on Wednesday.
