US Open Surfing 2012, The Nike U.S. Open of Surfing got back underway in Huntington Beach, California, on Saturday, August 4, 2012. The weather was wonderful and so was the surfing. I had been looking forward to watching both the junior women’s final and the junior men’s final. Both were well worth the wait. Here’s a quick look at some of the results:

Junior Women’s Results

The junior women’s semifinals served up plenty of excellent wave scores to go around. In Heat 1, Quincy Davis fired off a gorgeous 8.17 point ride. She backed it up in the waning moments of the surf heat with an equally as stunning 8.83 point ride. It was enough to earn her a spot in the final.

Nikki Van Dijk was the stand out surfer in Heat 2. She managed to execute a brilliant 8.67 point ride and an 8.33 point ride. Then she served up the coup de grace in the final minutes of the heat. It came in the form of an eye-popping 9.67 point ride. If you ask me, her surfing showed an intuitiveness rarely seen in a junior surfer. Van Dijk ultimately won the surf heat with 18.34 points.

Other memorable moments during the semifinals were Kaleigh Gilchrist’s 7.67 point ride, Bailey Nagy’s 7.03 point ride and Tatianna Weston-Webb’s 7.90 point ride. Surfer Leila Hurst also managed to deliver a noteworthy 7 point ride and a 7.20 point ride.

The final surf heat was between Kaleigh Gilchrist, Quincy Davis, Leila Hurst and Nikki Van Dijk. The ladies started out by posting a few low to mid scoring rides. Then things quickly got intense. Quincy Davis delivered a 6 point ride. Nikki Van Dijk answered back with a 6.27 point ride and an 8.07 point ride. Gilchrist and Hurst unleashed a few solid rides of their own but it was to no avail. Nikki Van Dijik won the final surf heat with 14.90 points.

Junior Men’s Results

The junior men’s semifinals also had its share of incredible wave scores. Some of the best ones belonged to Conner Coffin, Filipe Toledo and Cooper Chapman. My favorite was Coffin’s 9.43 point ride. It was on point and powerful. All three surfers ended up surfing in the final along with Kanoa Igarashi.

Conner Coffin managed to keep his momentum going and delivered a superlative 8.17 point ride about mid way into the final heat. Then he backed it up with an 8.93 point ride. It all proved too much for the others to overcome. Conner Coffin won the surf heat with 17.10 points.