COURTNEY CONLOGUE WINS AT VIRGINIAS ECSC

Most girls ask for a new cell phone or a shopping spree at the mall for their 15th birthday but then again Courtney Conlogue isn't anything like the average teenager. In 2006, at the age of 14, the talented young surfer made ASP history when she became the youngest person ever, male or female, to win a WQS event. And this year, the women's one-star WQS final happened to fall on the same day as she was born, the 25th of August.

At the start of the day's competition, Courtney mentioned that she wanted to keep her birthday on the low down but now that she's received the best present possible, a second consecutive win at the 45th Annual East Coast Surfing Championships, the secret's out.

Starting all the way from the round of 32, on through to the final, Courtney won all of her heats, showing that she deserved to walk away with the big $2,000 check. But on the way to victory, the road proved to have a few bumps. In her semifinal Courtney received an interference when she unknowingly rode a wave in front of Santa Barbara, California's Bo Stanley. Still, Court proved just how cool-headed she is when the pressure's on and continued to pull in the scores she needed to advance into the final, regardless of having her score penalized.

Yet, it was during the final when the young Californian really began to give her opponents a run for their money. As the conditions got soft and a bit blown out, finalists Karina Petroni, Quincy Davis, Lindsey Baldwin and Courtney had to pull out their games faces in order to make the big scores drop.

Karina, Lindsey and Quincy all surfed with enough conviction to prove they were hungry for the win. "The last three minutes I was freaking out because Karina and Lindsey were doing really well and I remember at the US Open I was kicked out in the last few minutes," said Courtney. "But I was stoked everything went well here."

Then, Courtney one-upped them all when she scored an 8.50, the highest ride of the entire women's WQS event. And to top off it off for the birthday girl, she said she'll be renting jet skis to celebrate -- proving she's not your average 15-year-old once again.

-SURFLINE

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