Heussenstamm makes waves

Mike Sciacca

Bron Heussenstamm has been surfing like there’s no tomorrow.

Perhaps that’s because he knows that one setback, one slip-up, and

he’ll be out of contention for one of surfing’s most coveted titles.

With the meat of the Bank of the West Beach Games featuring the

Honda U.S. Open of Surfing Presented by O’Neill now in session at the

Huntington Beach Pier, Heussenstamm joined fellow Laguna Beach

professional surfers in the men’s division main draw.

The 24-year-old surfed two heats on both Sunday and Tuesday and

emerged victorious in all four to advance to Thursday’s Round of 96.

O’Connell had an automatic berth in Thursday’s Round of 96.

The 32-year-old, currently ranked 18th in the world, surfed the

second heat in the Round of 96 on Thursday.

He’s seeded 107th in the U.S. Open of Surfing.

A third Laguna surfer, Mike Todd, did not advance past Wednesday’s

competitions and was eliminated from title contention.

By today, the men’s field will have been whittled to the Round of

64.

The men’s final is slated for Sunday at 12:40 p.m.

Heussenstamm, a business major who returns to school at USC in

late August, says the U.S. Open of Surfing has been on his mind for

some time.

“I’ve been thinking about competing all during this past school

year,” he said. “For not having competed on a regular basis because

of school, I felt really confident out in the water.”

Heussenstamm credited “being patient” with wave selection in

helping him get through one tough heat.

But the waves -- or lack of them -- did Todd in.

Todd needed a score of 3.9 or better on one final wave in his

20-minute heat, but no substantial swell rolled in during the final

eight minutes of his heat, he said.

“It’s was just tough luck out there,” Todd said. “Luck just wasn’t

on my side.”

Tuesday’s competition saw Dane Reynolds of Ventura and Pat

Gadauskas of San Clemente make a statement for the sport’s youth

movement, which figures to present a stiff challenge to veteran pros

like O’Connell, Carlsbad’s Taylor Knox and Cardiff’s Rob Machado in

the battle for the men’s title.

Reynolds finished ahead of Gadauskas in an intense heat Tuesday,

yet both advanced to Thursday’s Round of 96.

Lost Pro Junior, U.S. Open of Longboard semis fields set

Following three preliminary rounds of competition held earlier in

the week at the Huntington Beach Pier, the semifinal fields for the

Lost Junior Pro and U.S. Open of Longboarding has been set.

Joining Florida’s Jeremy Johnston in Saturday’s $10,000 Lost

Junior Pro semifinals is fellow Floridian Eric Taylor, Ben Dunn of

Australia, Brazil’s Adriano De Souza and Jean Da Silva and Hawaii’s

Kekoa Bacalso, Nathan Carroll and Dustin Cuizon.

Bacalso is the two-time defending junior champion.

In the U.S. Open of Longboarding, Colin McPhilips of Capistrano

Beach defeated former O’Neill U.S. Open of Longboarding multiple

champion Joel Tudor from Cardiff to advance to the quarterfinal

round.

In the quarterfinal round, McPhilips recorded the round’s highest

overall heat score, a 16.10, to advance to the semifinals.

Joining McPhilips in Sunday’s U.S. Open of Longboarding semifinals

is Malibu’s Zach Howard, Taylor Jensen of Imperial Beach, Josh Baxter

of San Clemente, Josh Constable and Brendan White.

A profile of Laguna Beach’s Bron Heussenstamm:

Age: 24

Hometown: Laguna Beach. Resides in Los Angeles at USC

High school: Laguna Beach (class of 1997)

Years as a professional surfer: Five

World ranking: “My rating has slipped due to being in college full

time. It will return upon graduation!”

Career highlights: First place at the World Qualifying Series

event at Morro Bay; two-time tour runner-up on the Pro Surfing Tour

of America; No. 3 in the U.S. in final amateur ranking; getting

accepted to USC.

Years competing at the U.S. Open of Surfing: Six

Best finish : “I got fourth-place in the Junior Pro at the U.S.

Open.”

What makes the U.S. Open in Huntington Beach so special?: “It’s a

special contest because I have been going down and watching it for as

long as I can remember. I have always wanted to do well there. I was

really fortunate to do well in the junior pro back in 2000 or so and

make the final. I would hope for a similar placing sometime in the

future in the pro division.

Is the caliber of world competitors getting better each year? “The

talent on tour is definitely getting better. Where you see it is down

in the low rounds. The caliber of surfing down in the trials has

really increased.”

Where would you like to see professional surfing go from where it

stands now? “I would like to see them expand on the top 44 feature to

include more surfers. There is only like six to 10 new surfers each

year going onto the tour. Our sport is getting too large for such a

small number. In major golf and tennis competitions there is usually

between 128 to 256.”

How often are you traveling worldwide for competitions? “Not as

much as I used to, with college now. I will be attending all of the

major ones this summer while I am out of school. After the U.S. Open,

I am headed to Europe for four weeks for four competitions. I will do

the entire tour for the first time in my career when I graduate in

2006.”

Final thoughts: “I just wanted to say that it is good to see

Laguna Beach getting behind its athletes. There is some special

talent from Laguna Beach in surfing right now. It’s amazing that

there are so many good surfers in Laguna for how small the town is.”

The Schedule

Today

8 a.m. - Honda Men’s U.S. Open of Surfing, Round 64 (heats 9-16)

9 a.m. - Soul Bowl (open practice)

9 a.m. - Volleyball, King & Queen of the Beach (qualifiers)

10:30 a.m. - Soul Bowl (Masters of Skate, qualifier)

11:20 a.m. - Honda Women’s U.S. Open of Surfing, quarterfinals

(heats 1-4) Noon - FMX Venue (FMX Demo)

1 p.m. - Honda Men’s U.S. Open of Surfing, Round 64 (heats 1-8)

1 p.m. - Soul Bowl (Young Guns Skate, qualifier)

2 p.m. - FMX Venue (FMX Demo)

3 p.m. - Soul Bowl (Women of Skate, practice)

3:30 p.m. - FMX Venue (FMX Demo)

4:15 p.m. - Soul Bowl (BMX practice)

4:30 p.m. - Concert Stage (Greenbrier Lane performs)

6 p.m. - Concert Stage (Alien Ant Farm performs)

Saturday

8 a.m. - Honda Men’s U.S. Open of Surfing, Round 64 (heats 9-16)

8 a.m. - Volleyball, King and Queen of the Beach (semifinals,

finals)

8:30 a.m. - Soul Bowl (open practice)

10:30 a.m. - Soul Bowl (BMX practice)

11 a.m. - FMX Venue (FMX Demo)

11:20 a.m. - Honda Men’s U.S. Open of Surfing, Round 32 (heats

1-8)

12:30 p.m. - Soul Bowl (BMX High Air Competition)

1 p.m. - FMX Venue (FMX Demo)

2:30 p.m. - Soul Bowl (Women of Skate final)

2:40 p.m. - Honda Women’s U.S. Open of Surfing, semifinal No. 1

3:05 p.m. - Honda Women’s U.S. Open of Surfing, semifinal No. 2

3:30 p.m. - Soul Bowl (Masters of Skate final)

3:30 p.m. - FMX Venue (FMX Demo)

3:50 p.m. - Lost Pro Junior, semifinal No. 1

4:10 p.m. - Honda Women’s U.S. Open of Surfing, finals

4:30 p.m. - Soul Bowl (Grand Masters of Skate)

4:30 p.m. - Concert Stage (Chronic Future performs)

6 p.m. - Concert Stage (TBA)

Sunday

8 a.m.. - Honda Men’s U.S. Open of Surfing, quarterfinals (heats

1-4)

8:30 a.m. - Soul Bowl (open practice)

9:40 a.m. - O’Neill U.S. Open of Longboarding, semifinal No. 1

10 a.m. - O’Neill U.S. Open of Longboarding, semifinal No. 2

10:20 a.m. - Honda Men’s U.S. Open of Surfing, semifinal No. 1

10:30 a.m. - Soul Bowl (Young Guns of Skate, final)

10:45 a.m. - Honda Men’s U.S. Open of Surfing, semifinal No. 2

11:10 a.m. - Paul Mitchell TWSA Expression Session, USO Surf

Stadium

11:40 a.m. - Lost Pro Junior, final

Noon - FMX Venue (FMX Demo)

12:10 p.m. - O’Neill U.S. Open of Longboarding, final

12:15 p.m. - Soul Bowl (Longest Air Over the Hip; Skate - Best

Trick

12:40 p.m. - Honda Men’s U.S. Open of Surfing, final

1:30 p.m. - Soul Bowl (BMX practice)

1:30 p.m. - FMX Venue (FMX Demo)

2 p.m. - Soul Bowl (BMX Bowl Comp)

2:45 p.m. - Soul Bowl (BMX Hard Trick, Best Trick)