Ocean Isle Brothers Rule In CA

Local Ocean Isle Beach surfers Mike and Ben Powell have taken second and third place in the NSSA Collegiate Surfing Championships in Dana Point, CA! OceanIsleBeach.com salutes the Powell brothers significant accomplishment.

Fox College Sports will air the national championships at 8 p.m. ET on June 26.

Here is the story from Michael Kaplan, FOXSports.com:

Mike and Ben Powell came to the NSSA Collegiate Surfing Championships in Dana Point, CA with the hope of proving to the California-dominated contest that East Coasters schools could surf too. Instead, the brotherly duo from UNC Wilmington almost took the whole thing.

After 13 hours of surfing, Cal State San Marcos and UNC Wilmington were deadlocked at 109 points apiece. Following a brief conference, it was decided that each team would send three surfers to a 15-minute, sudden death surf-off would decide the national champion.

“They knew exactly what they were doing and those guys were all for the surf-off,” San Marcos surfer Chris Smith said of UNC Wilmington. “We thought we had it and then all of a sudden you get out on the water and it’s like, wait a second, I got to go back out there. It was awesome.”

Smith, along with teammates Scott McBride and Aaron Coyle, led San Marcos to a 123-116 victory in the surf-off and its first national championship. Still, the Powell brothers didn’t go back to the Tar Heel State empty-handed. Ben finished second and Mike finished third in the men’s individual division, behind national champion Marty Weinstein of UC San Diego.

Weinstein, who was the favorite to win the national championship coming into the competition, dominated in the finals, registering high scores on wave after wave.

“Today I just wanted to make the finals,” Weinstein said. “I just wanted to get there. I just needed to get there. And then it just happened. I didn’t have any rhythm all day and then in the finals I just found my groove.”

In the women’s division, Amy Nicholl of the University of Central Florida snatched the national title from Mira Costa’s Darleen Connolly on her last wave of the finals.

“I had no idea I won it,” Nicholl said. “Everybody on the beach was screaming and I was like that’s a lucky person who they’re screaming for. I came in and they were like ‘you won’. It was pretty exciting.”

Kevin Osbourne of Saddleback took the college longboard national championship after going wave-for-wave with Point Loma’s Troy Mothershead in the final.

“It feels good,” Osbourne said. “I just went out there and surfed and tried not to think of it as a contest. Every time I get in a contest, I get the jitters or whatever so I just tried to surf and worked out.”

The day began at 6:30 a.m. with the men’s opening round heats. Dusk had set in by the time the newly crowned national champions hoisted their trophies at Salt Creek Beach.

“I’m a little tired, a little sun-burned, but we’re going to have a nice little party tonight,” Nicholl said. “It’s going to be fun.”

Fox College Sports will air the college men’s, women’s and longboard championships as well as the final surf-off at 8 p.m. ET on June 26.