Just four wahine remain at the World Junior Championships and, as expected, Mahina Maeda remains the woman to beat. Thursday’s action at Praia dos Pescadores in Portugal didn’t include too many big waves, but the young competitors still managed to
Just four wahine remain at the World Junior Championships and, as expected, Mahina Maeda remains the woman to beat. Thursday’s action at Praia dos Pescadores in Portugal didn’t include too many big waves, but the young competitors still managed to adjust and put up some excellent scores.
Maeda, the defending champion and top seed, has had to surf just one elimination heat to reach the final four. She did so in style with a 15.83 to 11.33 win over Portugal’s Camilla Kemp. Next up is a matchup with Teresa Bonvalot, also from Portugal.
Bonvalot has pulled off a pair of upsets in the past two rounds, first eliminating Hawaii’s Brisa Hennessy and following that up with a win over American Tia Blanco. She’ll have her toughest task yet and will have to use all of her local knowledge to move beyond Maeda’s dominance.
Hawaii’s third competitor, Dax McGill, came up just short of joining Maeda in the semifinals. McGill scored well on her first three waves and put a 16.10 total on her score line. But Australia’s Holly Wawn escaped the combo and came back with a 9.50 on a pair of big snaps to get back in the heat. She went on to take the lead with an 8.03 backup and McGill, despite putting up the second-highest two-wave total since round one, was out in the quarters.
Wawn will now face the contest’s No. 3 seed and fellow Aussie Isabella Nichols. No. 2 seed Chelsea Tuach, of Barbados, was knocked off in round four. Tuach will soon take her talents to the World Championship Tour and was the only competitor who will be on this season’s CT.
Before the women’s semifinals, the men’s draw will continue after completing its round one. Josh Moniz is into round three, but Kalani David, Seth Moniz, Benji Brand, Elijah Gates and Imai Devault will be in second-round elimination heats.
‘Bows start conference play with W: It wasn’t pretty, but the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors continued their best start in 15 years with a Wednesday win over Cal Poly in their Big West opener. Free-throw shooting has been a point of weakness so far, but Hawaii’s prowess from the stripe was a major storyline in the 86-73 win.
The ‘Bows were 34 for 42 (81 percent) from the foul line, including a combined 21 for 24 between Roderick Bobbitt and Aaron Valdes. They badly needed those points because their calling card of forcing turnovers wasn’t as effective against the Mustangs. Hawaii had just two steals and no fast-break points all night. They were forced to grind this one out and showed plenty of character in doing so successfully.
Stefan Jankovic finished with 19 points and 13 rebounds, while Bobbitt and Valdes had 21 and 20 points, respectively.
Conference play is always a different animal and Cal Poly knew Hawaii’s MO, but Coach Ganot and the ‘Bows adjusted properly to start the year with a win. Their second chance comes Saturday against UC Santa Barbara (7 p.m., Stan Sheriff Center).
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David Simon can be reached at dsimon@thegardenisland.com.
