NAGS HEAD, N.C. — For the first time in history, the National Scholastic Surfing Association (NSSA) held its National Championship on the East Coast.
The pinnacle achievement contest is typically held at The Pier in Huntington Beach, Calif., but this year the NSSA was continually denied permits there due to the COVID-19 pandemic and held it Oct. 20-24 at Jennette’s Pier in Nags Head, N.C.
Surfers from Hawaii, California and up and down the East Coast traveled to the Outer Banks to experience some of the best hurricane swell and pumping conditions that the East Coast has to offer. A total of 115 surfers competed in 277 seeded slots for the event.
Two young Ocean City surfers returned home as national champions — Brynn Gallagher, who won the Open Super Girls (12&U) Division, and Cruz Dinofa, who won the Open Mini Groms (10&U) Division.
Both of these surfers had to compete through quarterfinal heats and semifinal heats before making it to the main stage for the national finals. In fact, two of the last events of the entire contest happened to be the Dinofa and Gallagher back-to-back wins, creating an absolutely thrilling finale for these local children.
Dinofa, 11, who routinely travels to Hawaii and to the West Coast to train, was happy to be reunited with his surfing friends.”
“It was so awesome to be with all my friends [from the East Coast, Hawaii and California]. They all surfed so good and we cheered each other on,” he said. “North Carolina had such great waves, too. It was all so fun.”
Gallagher, 12, certainly agreed with Dinofa.
“The waves were overhead and firing all week long. I was just so happy to be able to compete in my first national event and to win a title was just insane. The contest was super fun and all the girls were ripping,” Gallagher said.
Brynn’s sister Mia Gallagher, 15, also came home with some hardware. Mia surfed her way through to two finals and finished runner-up by just 0.31 in the Explorer Women’s division behind Pua DeSoto, a six-time national champion from Makaha, Hawaii. Mia also finished fourth in Explorer Girls.
Additionally, Dinofa placed fourth in the Junior Air Show, which is a high-profile, mid-contest event showcasing some of the top names in amateur surfing and their gravity-defying aerial maneuvers.
Cooper Jewell, 13, also of Ocean City, competed in the Explorer Menehuene and Open Boys divisions.
The contest announcer, Gayline Clifford, who is the NSSA West Coast Conference director, commented that “these groms from Ocean City, N.J., have just been killing it here all week” and reminisced on the mic about how Ocean City has been a breeding ground for incredible surfing talent for decades, mentioning Lance Miller, Rob Kelly, Matt Keenan and his father, Joe Keenan, who served as a former NSSA Northeast Conference director.