A day after earning top youth honors, Oceanside’s Caitlin Simmers helped her pro teammate sail to victory in the team competition of the Nissan Super Girl Surf Pro on Sunday.
Lending some local surf smarts, 14-year-old Caitlin Simmers and pro teammate Lakey Peterson catapulted Team California to victory near the Oceanside Pier with Peterson ripping a 9.00 in Round 2 alongside Simmers’ 8.00 in Round 1 and a clutch 7.50 in Round 3.
Simmers, the youngest claimant to “Super Girl” in event history, won each of her heats throughout the weekend.
“I was pretty nervous being teamed up with Lakey because she’s really good and she’s a really cool person,” Simmers said. “It was great to see all the people here supporting me — I thought that was super nice to have that backing.
She confessed to being a little nervous, “but I just went out and surfed my best. I’m stoked to be on the winning team and get my first Super Girl cape at home.”
Said teammate Peterson: “Today was really fun with the waves getting way bigger and better with that hurricane swell, so Caity just gave me some of that local knowledge and told me where to go.”
“The future is very bright for Caity if this is what she wants to do,” said Peterson, No. 3 in world rankings. “I think she’s just a phenomenal surfer and everyone’s seen it around the world now.”
Veteran world-class surfers were teamed up with athletes in the youth category Sunday
4- to 6-foot swells — an improvement over the 2-4-footers Saturday, the first day of competition hosted by the Nissan Super Girl Surf Pro World Surf League.
Alana Nichols of Reno and Faith Lennox of Hawaii claimed the Super Girl cape in the adaptive surf competition.
All the bragging rights for Team California and Team US came down to the final heat between Championship Tour veteran Sage Erickson and Qualifying Series competitor Tia Blanco.
They faced off against four-time WSL Champion Carissa Moore and the event’s youngest surfer Vaihiti Inso, 13. Moore scored 9.63 out of 10 near the end of the heat.
“Oh my gosh, Tia did so amazing under pressure and did this huge turn so close to me and I was so happy she made it,” said Erickson.
Said Blanco: “Nissan Super Girl Pro is always one of my favorite events. It’s all about women empowerment and it’s always a good time. It was a lot of work, but I had such a blast today and just so blessed I got paired up with Sage.”
Blanco said her partner was so calm in the heats and made sure she was confident.
“I loved competing with her the whole time,” she added. “I think we’re all just so grateful that there has been this event and it’s been awesome to prepare for something.”
Other highlights included a battle between 2017 Super Girl Pro champion Courtney Conlogue and 2016 WSL North America QS Champion Meah Collins, who overpowering Carissa Moore and Inso in Round 2.
In Round 3, when Team US seemed to be headed toward an early defeat, 2015 Super Girl Pro winner Tatiana Weston-Webb, fellow Kauain Brianna Cope, Zoe McDougall and Gabriela Bryan earned vital wins.
Some of the country’s top adaptive surfers took to the water for their own Super Girl capes. Winner Alana Nichols’ devastating snowboard accident at age 17 rendered her paralyzed from the waist down.
Nichols came back to help claim a 2008 Gold Medal in Paralympic Basketball and 2010 Paralympic Sportswoman of the Year. The three-time Gold Medalist led the way in her heat and emerged with a win.
“Surfing is my creative outlet,” said Nichols. “Every other sport I’ve done is so linear, it’s so competitive and just ‘start to finish.’ Surfing is so creative and it just makes me feel so free. I get to leave the wheelchair on the shore and it’s just truly freedom for me.”
Fellow adaptive winner Faith Lennox took her heat.
“It was so fun,” said Lennox. “The current was kind of strong and the waves were really pumping, but I loved surfing out there with all my friends and being here with the professional surfers. Watching them and being a part of Super Girl is just so cool.”
Nissan Super Girl Surf Pro will be broadcast on FOX Sports throughout the country from Nov. 20 through Jan. 31.
