She received a wild card entry and Kauai’s Brianna Cope took advantage of the opportunity by reaching the final of the Women’s Pro Junior at the US Open of Surfing Saturday in Huntington Beach, California. Cope took third place within
She received a wild card entry and Kauai’s Brianna Cope took advantage of the opportunity by reaching the final of the Women’s Pro Junior at the US Open of Surfing Saturday in Huntington Beach, California. Cope took third place within the foursome that featured three Hawaii wahine.
The women’s World Championship Tour event also narrowed its field down from eight to four. One of those survivors is Kauai’s Malia Manuel, who has now reached back-to-back semifinals in the past two WCT stops. Manuel bested Australia’s Nikki Van Dijk and will take on another Aussie in Tyler Wright, who pulled off a big win over defending world champ and current world No. 1 Carissa Moore.
But back to the junior event for a moment, where Cope’s result gives her 536 World Qualifying Series rankings points. That’s now her second-best sum of the year behind the 2,640 she gained for second place at the Los Cabos Open of Surf, a result that pushed her up to 14th in the world. She’ll now bump up to around 10th place and be right on the qualification bubble with two other Kauai surfers, Tatiana Weston-Webb and Leila Hurst.
In Friday’s semifinal, Cope took charge from the start and had a spot in the final all but locked up less than halfway through the heat. She connected one wave with plenty of “Huntington hops” and was rewarded with a small section that allowed three turns for a 7.33 score and a 12.16 total that easily got her the heat victory.
Saturday was a super small day with barely any faces. The lineups crept right to the shoreline for part of the afternoon and most waves allowed for just one maneuver. Those who picked up the big scores were the ones going for vertical turns that permitted the fins to peek out, but a single sharp carve could still get a good number.
The Aloha State went one, two, three in the Women’s Pro Junior final with Oahu’s Bailey Nagy (14.17) pulling off the victory and fellow Honolulu surfer Mahina Maeda (13.87) in second place, just ahead of Cope (11.63) and American Meah Collins (11.63).
As for Manuel, her win over Van Dijk was a slow heat, but the Wailua surfer battled through the tough conditions and earned a spot in the final four. As a result, she’ll continue to move up the world tour standings. She came into this event in fifth place and having now locked up no worse than an Equal Third place will keep her in at least that position, moving closer to the elite top four of Moore, Sally Fitzgibbons, Stephanie Gilmore and Wright. Everyone will be gaining ground on Moore as Fitzgibbons and Gilmore will face off in the other semifinal.
This season has felt like the top four and then everyone else, but it seems to be expanding to a top five with the way Manuel has consistently placed herself in the quarterfinals and now a pair of semifinals. A win over Wright wouldn’t be a huge upset, given Manuel’s past successes at Huntington Beach. She was a winner there in 2008 at the age of 14 when it was a WQS event and then won the Pro Junior the following year. Adding another title this time around would be a major statement, though she now has the heavyweights to contend with.
On the men’s side, Australia’s Matt Banting won the Men’s Pro Junior event while Oahu’s Josh Moniz took third place. The Duct Tape Invitational longboard division was won by Florida regular footer Justin Quintal.
In the Men’s Prime event, eight surfers remain including Banting, Jordy Smith and Huntington local Brett Simpson. That and the women’s WCT contest will conclude today. Live webcast will be streamed on www.vansusopenofsurfing.com.
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David Simon can be reached at dsimon@thegardenisland.com.
