Nic H'dez in the Surfing America Prime West Coast event at Huntington Beach the weekend of March 17, 2012. He won the boys 16-and-under division. (Jack McDaniel/Contributed)

Santa Cruz surfer inches up on standings leader; John Mel also has solid ranking going into final event

With one Surfing America Prime event on the West Coast left to go, Santa Cruz’s Nic H’dez made a serious case for why he should be in the running for the overall boys 16-and-under title with a win at the Huntington Beach Pier over the weekend.

H’dez placed second in his first heat and in his semifinal heat, according to results released Tuesday night. But he made it count when it mattered, winning the final with a 10.90 score based on his top two waves. The next closest finisher in the final was Santa Barbara’s Pat Curren, who scored 8.70.  Huntington Beach’s own Kanoa Igarashi placed third [8.00] and Capistrano Beach’s Jake Davis was fourth [6.00].

Nic Hdez shows off his latest trophy after winning the boys 16-and-under division at Huntington Beach Pier. (Surfing America/Contributed)

Igarashi leads the standings for the 16U division with 9,075 points, but H’dez isn’t too far behind, in second with 8,814 points — 3,000 of which came from his performance over the weekend.

In the boys 18-and-under division contest, H’dez also advanced past the first round with a dominant 11-point scoring heat, but he was eliminated in the quarterfinals. He is currently ranked No. 6 in the 18U overall standings with 7,838 points. The current leader is again Igarashi with 9,450 points total and a more than 1,000-point lead over Davis, who is in second [8,363].

Santa Cruz native John Mel, who now lives in Newport Beach, also competed at the pier, taking second in the boys 14-and-under division with a 9.87-point score based on his top two waves. Griffin Colapinto of San Clemente won that event with a 12.40 score. Jordan Collins of Carlsbad was third [6.33] and Griffin Foy of Fullerton was fourth [4.04].

Mel is ranked No. 2 in the 14-and-under standings with 9,713 points (2,625 from his performance last weekend alone), and  Colapinto is first with 11,625 points.

The next Surfing America Prime West Coast event is scheduled for April 28-29 in Camp Pendleton.

Full results from Surfing America’s Huntington Beach stop, courtesy of Greg Cruise, are as follows:

Sanuk Surfing America Prime presented by Got Milk?

Where: Huntington Beach Pier
When: March 17 & 18, 2012

GIRLS U16
1st – Frankie Harrer – Malibu
2nd – Kulia Doherty – Rancho Santa Fe
3rd – Meah Collins – Costa Mesa
4th – Avalon Johnson – Carlsbad

GIRLS U18
1st – Meah Collins – Costa Mesa
2nd – Emily Ruppert – Indialantic FL
3rd – Lulu Erkeneff – Dana Point
4th – Kulia Doherty – Rancho Santa Fe

BOYS U18
1st – Andrew Jacobson – Malibu
2nd – Taylor Clark – Encinitas
3rd – Colin Moran – Costa Mesa
4th – Thelen Mckinna-Worrell – Malibu

BOYS U16
1st – Nic Hdez – Santa Cruz
2nd – Pat Curren – Santa Barbara
3rd – Kanoa Igarashi – Huntington Beach
4th – Jacob Davis – Capistrano Beach

BOYS U14
1st – Griffin Colapinto – San Clemente
2nd – John Mel – Newport Beach
3rd – Jordan Collins – Carlsbad
4th – Griffin Foy – Fullerton

— Christina Gullickson, on Twitter at CGullTweets