Day 1 of the 9th annual Santa Cruz Contest was full of high hopes.   On Friday, the day before the contest, all of the visiting skimboarders were welcomed with clean 2-4 foot surf at 26th Ave.  Everyone was convinced that the good conditions would follow for the contest, but just like many other events, the conditions turned for the worst.  Contestants were greeted with glassy conditions in the morning, but soon thereafter the sun and wind came up along with a nasty trough.  That didn’t stop the pros from making the most of the conditions.  All the big names made it through the first round despite the sloppy conditions.

Contestants are crossing their fingers that the conditions will switch back for the better when the contest resumes early Sunday morning.  Here are the first round pro results:

Photo: D’Eliscu

Heat 1:

EJ Sanico 1^st

Beaker 2^nd

Jake Stinnett 3^rd

Heat 2:

Harley Nelson 1^st

Brandon Rothe 2^nd

George Bryan 3^rd

Heat 3:

Paulo Prietto1st

Koty Lopez 2^nd

Tommy D’Eliscu 3^rd

Heat 4:

Brad Domke 1^st

Matthieu Thibald 2^nd

Keith Peery 3^rd

Heat 5:

Morgan Just 1^st

Scrappy Flores 2^nd

Brandon McCormick 3^rd

Heat 6:

Brendan Stevens 1^st

Brandon Sears 2^nd

Brent Gretch 3^rd

Heat:7:

Jason Wilson 1^st

Stephen Bradford 2^nd

Ryan Parola 3^rd

Heat 8:

James Lovett 1^st

Corbin Dull 2^nd

Nate Zoller 3^rd

Heat 9: (Sorry, I’m not sure how this last heat went)

Isaac Zoller

Ben K.

Adam Loero