San Clemente juniors dominate on first day of U.S. Open of Surfing

Surfers always seem to be searching for the next wave, the next opportunity.

Tyler Gunter of Newport Beach was obviously disappointed after he was eliminated Saturday afternoon in the second round of the Men’s Junior Pro event at the Vans U.S. Open of Surfing. Gunter ran quickly through the sand on the south side of the Huntington Beach Pier and out of the competition area.

The result was not what Gunter, an 18-year-old in his last year of junior competitions, was seeking. But he will get a second chance of sorts Sunday.

Gunter is surfing Sunday morning in the trials for the men’s event, beginning at 8 a.m. The winner of the 32-surfer trials field receives a wildcard into the World Surf League Men’s Qualifying Series 10,000 event, which is slated to begin Monday morning.

“I’m really looking forward to that,” Gunter said. “I’m definitely going to learn from the mistakes I just made in that last heat, and I’m going to put everything in it to win those trials tomorrow. It should be really cool. I’ve done the trials when I was younger, and I wasn’t as big or strong then. I’m really looking forward to giving it all I’ve got this year.”

The Junior Men’s Pro event, the only event to be contested on the U.S. Open’s first day, was pared down to the quarterfinals after two rounds Saturday. No locals remain in the field, which is down to 16 surfers and is dominated by young surfers from San Clemente.

Gunter won his first heat of the day Saturday with a two-wave score of 12.50. But in the second round, he finished fourth with a score of 9.83. Gunter was unable to find big waves late in the 20-minute heat, which was won by Blake Speir of Florida with a score of 11.93. Malakai Martinez of Costa Rica also advanced, posting a 10.40.

“I had two opportunities,” said Gunter, who came into the U.S. Open ranked No. 3 among North American surfers on the Junior Tour. “There’s a wave that Taro [Watanabe] went on where I had priority, and I just was in the wrong spot. Then there was another wave that Blake went on where I had priority and I just thought it wasn’t going to be a good wave. I probably should have gone on those waves and had a little bit better wave choice, and maybe things would have worked out differently. But it’s really hard with these conditions out here. There are hardly any waves, and the low tide definitely makes it harder with the wave power.”

Of the 16 quarterfinalists, 10 are from the United States, and five of those hail from San Clemente.

They include Crosby Colapinto and Kade Matson. Matson bested his best friend as they competed in a second-round heat Saturday, though both moved on. They shared a good laugh as they walked off the beach.

“We’re all pretty much best friends,” Matson said. “We hang out every day. It’s really cool to have a heat with your best friend, and both of you make it [to the next round]. It’s just extra special.”

Matson finished third in this event last year at the U.S. Open, and so he is extra motivated to make it back to the finals and win it this time.

“It was really kind of stressful,” he said. “If you make it, you get to skip a few days and kind of rest up for the [quarterfinals]. It’s always good to get the first couple of heats out of the way. The waves aren’t too good, but it just felt good to get a couple of good ones.

“It’s probably the biggest event of the year for juniors. It’s my favorite event, for sure. To be able to come here and compete with the crowd, everyone cheering you on, it’s really cool … We have an event here every weekend pretty much, so I feel right out home at here. We have little NSSA [National Scholastic Surfing Assn.] comps here, so I feel at home.”

The other Orange County surfers to advance included Cole Houshmand, Jett Schilling and Hagan Johnson, also all from San Clemente.

San Clemente also was featured as natives Dane, Pat and Tanner Gudauskas ran their annual Stoke-O-Rama youth surfing program further down the beach. The Stoke-O-Rama raises money for local community water safety programs.

Keanu Igarashi, Griffin Foy and Dylan Hord of Huntington Beach, along with Jojo Whelan of Newport Beach, were other locals who were eliminated in the first round of the Men’s Junior Pro event. Igarashi is the younger brother of defending U.S. Open men’s champion Kanoa Igarashi.

[email protected]

Twitter: @mjszabo