The Neck Rash crew out of San Clemente is, according to the bio on its crew page, "just a couple of space horses flying around in stolen aquamobiles."

Aren't we all?

Put another way, though, Neck Rash is a crew of top-shelf rippers who wouldn't look out of place in an ASP 4-star. They're that good. This ain't the neighborhood gang just out for laughs, this is four young lads who all -- at one point or another -- have been in a position to pursue a pro surf career. These days they mostly pursue the peaks and ramps around San Clemente, and as their featured crew video demonstrates, the boys' skills remain sword-sharp.

Youngest among them is Shaw Kobayashi, 19, straight out of high school and taking a year off his studies to travel and surf. Anyone who's surfed Lower Trestles during daylight hours over the past 10 years will recognize Shaw as the grom out dominating the inside racetrack with an O'Neill sticker on his nose, his dad roaming the lineup, never missing a session from the best of days to the worst.

Jeff Lukasik, 21, is another SC product who rocked the amateur ranks and now holds down local status from T-Street to Church. He just returned from a month in Bali, learning to navigate the treacherous streets by scooter under the tutelage of Mike Losness -- himself an experienced Bali tripper and well-known pro. Together, Jeff an Shaw have a blog called Sea 4 Yourselves that documents surfing and life with their friends around home -- most of those friends being well-known local rippers themselves.

Jamie Parkhurst and Jason Miller round out the Neck Rash crew -- two guys who surfed together on the San Clemente High surf team and stayed tight after graduation, still reuniting on the regular to surf and hang out. Jamie is a talented artist and designer who just finished school at Saddleback College and is deciding where to take his skills and studies next. Jason runs a thriving web design business he launched on his own, a job that allows him to set his own hours and time the wind, tide and swell to perfection. He rarely misses a good window in San Clemente and knows the local spots like the back end of a website.

The Nike Chosen contest is about more than just surf talent -- remember the three criteria: creativity, camaraderie and progression. Still, with heavy hitters like the Neck Rash boys in the game, crews will have to bring a whole new level of originality to get noticed. Because as far as surfing goes, Neck Rash has officially upped the ante.