Locals shine in Newport Classic

Newport Harbor High’s Joey Head won the high school division, Geoff

Moysa, a Newport Beach pro, won the men’s open short board division

and the “skins event,” Newport Harbor High alumnus Alex Knost won the

open long board division and Lisa Turk of Newport Harbor High won the

women’s open division to highlight action at the fifth annual Newport

Classic surf contest, completed Sunday.

The two-day event at 56th Street in Newport Beach featured 100

entrants competing in eight divisions in less-than-ideal conditions.

Saturday’s 25 preliminary heats began with waist-high sets, but

ended in small, blown-out, one-foot sets. Sunday’s finals were

contested in glassy, 2-to-4-foot surf.

Additional winners included Newport Harbor High’s Matt Kretschmar

in the open bodyboard division, Ensign Intermediate’s Tyler Tarlow in

the middle school short board division (grades 6-8), and Kaiser

Elementary’s Rusy Sary in the elementary short board division

(kindergarten through fifth grade).

The elementary division was the closest, as Sary, with an average

wave score of 5.2, edged Kaiser’s Ian Sequeira.

Moysa’s average wave score of 6.1 was good enough to top Newport

Harbor alums Nate Tyler (second) and Adam Popp (third) in the men’s

open short board division.

Moysa also won the special skins event air show, an open contest

spanning two days and 16 heats.

Head posted an average score of 5.8 to better second-place Nathan

Stoneman of Newport Harbor and third-place Tarlow.

Turk’s average score of 4.4 bettered Newport Harbor alumnus Amy

Lowry (second) and current Newport Harbor student Amie Benjamin

(third).

Knost defended his long board title with an average score of 6.7.

Newport Harbor’s Jared Mell was second and Nolan Hull third.

Tarlow posted an average score of 7.5 to defeat middle school

division foes Beau Caillouette from Harbor Day (second) and Patric

Woodine from Ensign (third). Tarlow earned a 9.0 in Sunday’s final,

the highest single-wave score of the day.