“The rookies and the young guys have come on so strong it’s made us push as hard as we can,” Dias said after the contest. “They came out here this year and forced us to progress and skate. These kids, they progress so fast. It’s hard now! Everyone is so good… I have to thank those guys for pushing me to be better.”

One of those kids, 19-year old Adam Taylor, qualified fourth on Saturday.  Two others, Alex Perelson (17) and Josh Stafford (16) missed the cut but have been influencial all season.

Last month’s amateur winner of the Free Flow Tour, Paul-luc Ronchetti, received a wild-card entry to the contest and finished 10th.

The Skate Vert finals will take place on Saturday from 7:30-9 p.m. and will also be broadcast on USA Network from 12 midnight-1 a.m.

For more about the contest, check out AST.com.

Here’s the lineup for Saturday’s final (in order)

10. Jean Postec
9. Danny Mayer
8. Anthony Furlong
7. Adam Taylor
6. Buster Halterman
5. Pierre-Luc Gagnon
4. Sandro Dias
3. Andy Macdonald
2. Bob Burnquist
1. Bucky Lasek

Skate Vert Prelim Results – PlayStation Pro
October 16, 2008 – Top Seven Advance

1st – Dias, Sandro – 85.25
2nd – Gagnon, Pierre-Luc – 82.25
3rd – Halterman, Buster – 80.50
4th – Taylor, Adam – 80.25
5th – Furlong, Anthony – 80.00
6th – Mayer, Danny – 79.75
7th – Postec, Jean – 78.50
- – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - -
8th – Hendrix, Neal – 77.50
9th – Glifberg, Rune – 76.50
10th – Ronchetti (A), Paul-luc – 72.75
11th – Millar, Renton – 68.00
12th – Bastos, Marcelo – 68.00
13th – Stafford, Josh – 66.50
14th – Perelson, Alex – 63.50
15th – Sloan, Elliot – 55.75
16th – Lorifice, Rob – 51.50
17th – Ueda, Lincoln – 46.00

Pierre-Luc Gagnon had an awful showing last month at the Right Guard Open but after winning X Games gold earlier this month he came back strong at the Wendy’s Invitational in Portland.  PLG tied with Sandro Dias as the top qualifier in Skateboard Vert, with Alex Perelson a distant third.  Thanks to a tiebreaker Dias received the top rank with PLG in second.  Fellow young guns Josh Stafford and Adam Taylor also made the cut.  Not competing in Portland was last month’s winner Shaun White.

“I want to get the 900 in one of my runs on Saturday,” Dias said after taking the qualifiers. “I’m feeling great after my runs in Prelims; I always love skating in Portland and with the new three-run format this year we have more time and space to do different tricks. I want to skate in Finals like I skated today, stay on my board, and try different tricks for sure. Maybe the 9.”

Already prequalified for the final on Saturday are AST Dew Cup points leader Bucky Lasek, alogn with Andy Macdonald and Bob Burnquist.  Fans will be able to catch the action on NBC starting at 1 p.m. PT/4 p.m. ET.

Here’s the lineup for Saturday’s final (in order)

10. Buster Halterman
9. Rob Lorifice
8. Adam Taylor
7. Josh Stafford
6. Alex Perelson
5. Pierre-Luc Gagnon
4. Sandro Dias
3. Bob Burnquist
2. Andy Macdonald
1. Bucky Lasek

Skate Vert Prelim Results – Wendy’s Invitational
August 21, 2008 – Top Seven Advance

1st – Dias, Sandro – 88.00
2nd – Gagnon, Pierre-Luc – 88.00
3rd – Perelson, Alex – 81.50
4th – Stafford, Josh – 80.75
5th – Taylor, Adam – 79.50
6th – Lorifice, Rob – 78.50
7th – Halterman, Buster – 76.75
- – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - -
8th – Millar, Renton – 74.25
9th – Ueda, Lincoln – 67.00
10th – Bastos, Marcelo – 66.25
11th – Glifberg, Rune – 62.75
12th – Hendrix, Neal – 62.00
13th – Gentry, Chris – 61.25
14th – Postec, Jean – 45.50
15th – Menezes, Rodrigo – 38.75
16th – Mayer, Danny – 30.50
17th – Furlong, Anthony – 22.50

Sandro Dias (above) led the pros at the Soul Bowl this weekend in Huntington Beach, while T-Mag ended up in first for the legends.  Mimi Knoop led the women.

For some great photos and commentary about the show check out George Crosland’s blog (one of his photos of Dias is above) and SoCal Skateparks.

Soul Bowl Results:

Pro
Sandro Dias

Legends
1. Tony Magnusson
2. Steve Caballero
3. Mike McGill
4. Duane Peters

Women
Mimi Knoop

Check out Colin Clark’s footage from the event. 

Mystic Cup Day One from Colin Clark on Vimeo.

STREET
1. Jereme Rogers – USA $8,000
2. Daniel Vieira – BRA $4,000
3. Diego Oliveira – BRA $2,000
4. Rodil Jr. – BRA $1,500
5. Phil Zwijsen – BEL $1,200
6. Ruben Rodrigues – POR $1,000
7. Axel Cruysberghs – BEL $800
8. Milton Martinez – ARG $750
9. Deigo Fiorese – BRA $700
10. Tomas Vintr – CZE $650
BOWL
1. Julien Benoliel – FRA $2,500
2. Sandro Dias – BRA $1,350
3. Jimmy “The Greek” Marcus – USA $1,000
4. Juergen Horrwarth – GER $850
5. Alex Giraud – FRA $700
VERT
1. Sandro Dias – BRA $4,000
2. Renton Millar – AUS $2,300
3. Juergen Horrwarth – GER $1,500
4. Neal Hendrix – USA $1,000
5. Cristiano Mateus – BRA $800
LADIES
1. Lacey Baker – USA $1,000
2. Evelien Bouilliart – BEL $600
3. Lyn Z Adams-Hawkins – USA $400
4. Sabrina Goggel – GER $300
5. Sophie Poppe – BEL $250