LIHU‘E — With just one day remaining, the Hawai‘i team sits in second place behind a familiar opponent, as Australia leads the Quiksilver 2011 World Junior Surfing Championships, presented by the International Surfing Association. The Aussies, winners of the past
LIHU‘E — With just one day remaining, the Hawai‘i team sits in second place behind a familiar opponent, as Australia leads the Quiksilver 2011 World Junior Surfing Championships, presented by the International Surfing Association.
The Aussies, winners of the past five ISA junior titles, have tallied 6,615 points to this point in Punta Hermosa, Peru. Hawai‘i has 6,250 points, with South Africa (6,000), Peru (5,920) and USA (5,526) rounding out the top five in the 27-nation competition.
The Kaua‘i duo of Koloa’s Brianna Cope and Princeville’s Tatiana Weston-Webb are each one heat away from the finals in the Girls Under 18 event, having made it through five consecutive heats with either first or second-place results. They are two of just four girls with such finishes and will be in the water today with Australia’s Codie Klein and Nikki Van Dijk for the sixth-round heat. The top two finishers will head straight into the championship heat, while the bottom two will be moved into the repechage bracket, still having a chance to make the final.
“It would mean everything (to win the gold medal) because I want to represent my hometown the best as I can,” Cope said in an ISA interview.
She came through with a pair of second-place finishes Friday, posting first a 7.57 in a low-scoring fourth round, then a 10.33 in the fifth round — second only to Weston-Webb.
The North Shore rider scored a 12.43 for first place in that fifth-round heat, as the Hawai‘i duo topped France’s Cannelle Bulard. Weston-Webb had scored an 8.90 in the fourth round for second place to reach that stage.
Hawai‘i teammate Mahina Maeda is also still aiming for a spot in the final, as she is one of six surfers left in the repechage draw. She was knocked from the main event in a highly competitive, three-surfer heat, where her 10.60 total fell behind Klein (11.27) and Van Dijk (10.93).
That gives the Hawai‘i team three of the 10 girls who still have a shot at the podium.
Having entered the day with 11 of its 12 total team members still in the competition, it was going to be difficult for the Hawai‘i contingent to maintain that pace.
One of the team’s four surfers in Boys Under 16 competition remains alive, as Kain Daly is into the sixth round of the main draw. His four-man heat today will place two surfers directly into the championship heat. Daly scored a pair of heat victories Friday, first posting a 12.40 in the fourth round, followed by a 15.50 for a big win in the fifth round.
Kilauea’s Koa Smith blasted a 16.60 in the repechage fifth round, including a 9.00 on his final ride to move on with the heat win.
Kaua‘i surfer Kaoli Kahokuloa also won his fifth-round repechage heat with a 13.07 total, scoring 6.07 and 7.00 on his final two waves.
Ian Gentil’s 13.40 in the same round was good for second place, putting all three into the repechage sixth’s round. However, all three were edged out and eliminated in those heats.
Gentil and Kahokuloa took third and fourth place, respectively, behind Peru’s Joaquin del Castillo (13.20) and Italy’s Leonardo Fioravanti (13.17). Gentil scored 11.00 and Kahokuloa had a 6.97 on limited opportunities.
Smith, who won the bronze medal at last year’s event in New Zealand, put up a 10.93, but France’s Andy Criere edged him for second place with an 11.54.
Keanu Asing blasted his way into the sixth round of the Boys Under 18 event’s main draw, scoring a 14.34 for a fifth-round heat victory. He had moved to that point earlier Friday, taking second with a 10.10 in his fourth-round heat.
Ezekiel Lau moved to the repechage bracket after a fourth-place finish in his fourth-round heat. He was then eliminated by the narrowest of margins as his 9.50 score came up just behind second-place finisher Carlos Munoz’s 9.60 in the repechage sixth round.
Kaua‘i’s Kaimana Jaquias was eliminated in the repechage fifth round, finishing in third place with a 9.53 score, again not far behind heat winner Munoz (10.25) and runner-up Connor O’Leary (10.00).
All told, five of the Hawai‘i 12 will be in action today — four of them still not having yet been relegated to the repechage division — as the event will crown its individual and team champions .
Heats are scheduled to resume at 8 a.m. local time (3 a.m. Hawaiian). The championship heats are scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. local time (8 a.m. Hawaiian), with the Girls Under 18 final. That will be followed by the Boys Under 16 and finally Boys Under 18.
To watch the competition live online, visit www.isawjsc.com.
