Huston fell numerous times during the day including in his first run, but the forgiving format allowed him to hang on pretty much until his last attempt. His lowest score didn’t count, so that eliminated one of his bails and he was sitting in seventh place when the opportunity to win came, and he made the most of it.
Huston needed 9 points to jump six spots into first place and he had landed his last trick, a nollie 270 switch back lipslide on the stairset rail. It was his third time trying that trick and he missed on the first two attempts, but he got a 7.8 for landing it. So sitting in next to last place and needing a 9, it wasn’t looking good for him until the situation was taken into consideration, revealing that these are the cirucumstances he thrives in.
Huston is no stranger to the 9 club and he is also no stranger to winning on a last attempt. So all he needed to do was combine the two when it was all on the line, on a day where he wasn’t skating his best, and to everyone’s surprise he did that. He landed a backside 360 kickflip lipslide on the stairset rail for a score of 9.3 and that put him in first place temporarily. He hadn’t won yet; he had to wait out the final attempts of Shane O’Neill, Chaz Ortiz, and Paul Rodriguez.
The Final scoreboard:
1. Nyjah Huston – 34.2
2. Paul Rodriguez – 33.8
3. Evan Smith – 32.4
4. Chaz Ortiz – 32.3
5. Tom Asta – 31.7
6. Manny Santiago – 31.6
7. Shane O’Neil – 30.5
8. Chris Cole – 28.1
Nyjah Huston 1st place, Paul Rodriguez got 2nd & Evan Smith took 3rd
