Hawai'i amateurs dominate at surf meet
By Dayton Morinaga
Advertiser Staff Writer
Hawai'i surfers dominated the inaugural American Surfing Championships, winning nine individual titles and the team title.
The five-day contest concluded yesterday in 3- to 5-foot waves at Huntington Beach, Calif. More than 200 amateur surfers from around the nation participated in the contest. It was the first of three events this summer that will feature competition for the best amateur surfers in the United States.
Eleogram
"It was cold and the kids all had to wear full wetsuits," said Bernie Baker, who represented Hawai'i on the judging panel. "But it was pretty clear to everybody that the Hawai'i kids were head and shoulders above the other kids."
Cedric Caires of Honolulu and Katherine Van Dyke of Wahiawa led the Hawai'i contingent, winning two national titles each.
Caires placed first in the menehune bodyboarding and open bodyboarding divisions. He also placed second in the menehune longboard surfing division. Van Dyke won the women's shortboard surfing and open women's shortboard surfing divisions.
Perhaps most indicative of Hawai'i's domination, Hawai'i surfers swept the top four places in both the boys (ages 12 to 15) and junior men's (ages 15 to 18) shortboard surfing divisions. Those two divisions feature the most competitors, and many of them are on the verge of turning professional.
Ola Eleogram of Maui won the prestigious junior men's division. Casey Brown of Kailua, Kona, placed second, followed by T.J. Barron of Sunset Beach and Hank Gaskell of Maui.
Eleogram also posted the top scores in the team event, leading the Hawai'i Amateur Surfing Association (HASA) over teams from California, Texas and Florida.
In the boys division, Tonino Benson of Kailua, Kona, placed first, followed in order by Granger Larsen, Kekoa Cazimero and Clay Marzo.
Other individual champions from Hawai'i were Jared Clapper (men's shortboard surfing), Kyle Ramey (open shortboard surfing), and Kaleo Cajigal (menehune longboard surfing).
All the finalists earned invitations to the USA Surfing Championships, which is scheduled for July 23-25 at Huntington Beach, Calif.
Many of the Hawai'i surfers will stay in California to compete in next week's National Scholastic Surfing Association National Championships.
How Hawai'i surfers fared
Shortboard surfing
Menehune: 2, Ezekiel Lau. Boys: 1, Tonino Benson. 2, Granger Larsen. 3, Kekoa Cazimero. Junior men: 1, Ola Eleogram. 2, Casey Brown. 3, T.J. Barron. 4, Hank Gaskell. Men: 1, Jared Clapper. 2, Cisco Kay. 3, Makai McMichael. Open: 1, Kyle Ramey. 2, Ola Eleogram. 3, Masaijah Lani. 4, Wesley Larsen. Girls: 2, Coco Ho. 4, Mia Melamed. Women: 1, Katherine Van Dyke. Open women: 1, Katherine Van Dyke.
Longboard surfing
Menehune: 1, Kaleo Cajigal. 2, Cedric Caires. Junior men: 3, Roger Aka Pai. Women: 4, Marissa Matsusaka.
Bodyboarding
Menehune: 1, Cedric Caires. Open: 1, Cedric Caires.
Reach Dayton Morinaga at dmorinaga@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-8101.
