Newport Beach’s Collins Advances in Surfing Event

Richie Collins of Newport Beach won two of his heats and finished second in the other Tuesday to advance during the second day of the sixth annual Op Pro Surfing Championships at Huntington Beach.

Fourteen surfers, including Scott Farnsworth and John Parmenter of Newport Beach, Matt Archibold of San Clemente and Chuy Reyna of Oceanside, advanced to today’s competition, which starts at 6:30 a.m.

Jim Hogan of San Clemente was eliminated in his first heat by Todd Martin of Cardiff, who was later eliminated, and Mark Sainsbury of Australia, who advanced. The top two surfers advance in each heat.

Christian Fletcher of San Clemente, who at 16 was the youngest to advance Monday, was also eliminated.

Matt Kechle and Scott McCranels of Florida, Sunny Garcia of Hawaii and Simon Law, Luke Egen Robbie Page, Stuart Bedford Brown and Craig Simms of Australia also advanced. They will face surfers seeded 17-30 in the tournament today.