Capps Wins Women’s Open : Surfing: Carlsbad graduate upstages her brother at Scholastic meet.

Hoey Capps’ blue eyes opened wide. Her sunburned chin dropped in astonishment.

“Surely you’ve got me confused with someone else,” she thought. “Maybe my brother, Banning. He wins everything.”

Hoey Capps, 17, a recent graduate of Carlsbad High School, had just been informed that she had won the women’s open division of the National Scholastic Surfing Assn. national championships Thursday at the Oceanside Pier.

She tried to speak, but no words came out.

It didn’t take a lip-reader to receive the message. She was stunned.

Catching the best rights and lefts in the 25-minute final heat, Capps defeated five other surfers, including Wendy Frederick of San Diego and Christine Jenkins of UC San Diego, to win her first national title.

The look of astonishment came not from the feeling of having surfed poorly--she said she thought she did pretty well. It came because this was only the second victory for Capps in an open division final.

The first came earlier this month at the AA-rated season finale, which was also in Oceanside.

“I don’t know what to say,” Capps said. “I’ve never won anything before last month.”

The same cannot be said about her younger brother.

Banning Capps, 15, began the 1990-91 season by winning five of the first six events on the 10-stop tour, a first in the 12-year history of the NSSA.

A knee injury, however, slowed his record pace and eventually forced him to miss the season finale, which also dropped him to second in the final juniors (13-15) division standings.

He was able to return about a week ago, but lost in the open semifinals earlier in the day and in the high school finals earlier in the week.

Hoey and Banning were the first brother-sister pair to make the 20-member NSSA national team last June, and they were hoping to become the first brother and sister to win national championships in the same year.

Hoey, however, didn’t think she stood a chance, especially after finishing fourth in the Explorer women’s division final earlier in the day. Banning thought differently.

“I knew she could win,” he said. “I thought she surfed good. Although I’ve seen her surf better.”

With Banning ailing, Jeremy Sommerville of Solana Beach won the juniors open division national championship, defeating two Hawaiians and NSSA national team member Brian Stanton of Encinitas in Thursday’s final.

Sommerville, 14, a sophomore at Torrey Pines High, had won the final two regular-season events and had dedicated today’s final to his sister, Milani, who was celbrating her 23rd birthday.

“She’s always been real supportive of me,” Sommerville said. “So I told her I would win this one for her. She was stoked.”

Sommerville, too, was stoked, but said it would have been nice had Capps made the finals.

“It’s always fun to surf against him, because he’s the best,” Sommerville said. “I’m sorry he wasn’t there, because he’s also a really nice kid.”

Isaac Kaneshiro of Hawaii won the men’s open final, defeating Barry Deffenbaugh of Huntington Beach, Pat Maus of Carlsbad and Jay Larsen of Huntington Beach.

Chris Ward of San Clemente won the boys’ (12-and-younger) open division and Chris Won of Hawaii won the open bodyboarding division.

Rusty Phillipy of Encinitas won the Explorer masters’ (25-34) division. La Jolla’s Tyler Callaway was second, followed by San Diego’s Mike Glevy and Charles Nichols and Phillipy’s brother, Ron, also from Encinitas.

Each of the division finalists will be honored at a banquet tonight. The NSSA will also announce its 1991-92 national team then. Banning Capps is expected to be selected again, but Hoey Capps said she will attend Point Loma Nazarene in the fall.

Hoey’s next contest, she said, will be the U.S. Amateur championships in November.

“I’ll continue to surf, but I want to get through college before I plan on turning pro,” she said. “I want to have something to fall back on in case things don’t work out.”