ISLE FILE
Benson wins junior pro surfing title at U.S. Open
Advertiser Staff
Tonino Benson from the Big Island won the junior pro division of the Honda U.S. Open of Surfing yesterday.
The final day of the contest was completed in 1- to 2-foot waves at Huntington Beach, Calif.
Benson, 17, postponed a trip to Japan for another contest so he could compete in yesterday's final.
"I'm so stoked I didn't end up going to Japan early," Benson said. "I was considering heading there ... but I decided that this would be a better opportunity for me. The competition was super stiff with Jordy (Smith) and Mason (Ho) and Chris (Waring) there so to come away with the win is a real honor."
Benson received scores of 7.27 and 6.67 for his two best waves for a total of 13.94. He earned $2,500 for the victory.
Waring from California placed second, Smith from South Africa was third, and Ho from Sunset Beach, O'ahu, was fourth.
In the men's professional division, Dustin Cuizon from 'Ewa Beach tied for third place.
Former world champion C.J. Hobgood defeated Cuizon in the semifinals, 15.0-14.33. Cuizon needed a score of 7.21 to win the heat in the closing minutes, but he received a score of 6.2 on his last wave.
Hobgood went on to win the contest.
In the longboard division, Kai Sallas of Honolulu placed fourth. Colin McPhillips of California won the division.
The U.S. Open of Surfing is the largest contest in California, although it does not count toward the World Championship Tour.
BASEBALL
KAMUELA CAPTURES TITLE
The Kamuela Paniolos scored four runs in the top of the ninth inning to beat the Kauai Menehunes, 5-3, yesterday in the championship game of the Hawaii Collegiate Baseball League.
Tony Bonelli, Trevor Petersen and Emanuel Sifuentes each had two hits for Kamuela. Reliever Kyle Tye earned the victory.
Buzzy Haydel batted 2 for 4 for Kauai, which scored three runs in the third to take a 3-0 lead.
Earlier in the day at Kailua High School, Kauai beat Kamuela, 8-7, to force a winner-take-all final of the double-elimination tournament.
Punahou School alum Kaohi Downing hit a three-run homer to ignite a seven-run fourth inning for the Menehunes. Steve Broschofsky added three RBIs for Kauai.
Kamehameha Schools alum Waylon Sing Chow had three hits and scored two runs for Kamuela. Bonelli, Tyler Waddell, Leo Aguirre and Saint Louis School alum Jowen Murray-Thornton each had two hits and Thornton-Murray had two RBIs for the Paniolos.
'AIEA WINS, BUT OUSTED
Brock Honda singled with the bases loaded and no outs in the bottom of the seventh as 'Aiea beat North Seattle, 4-3, yesterday in the P.O.N.Y. Bronco (ages 11-12) West Zone Tournament at Olympia, Wash.
'Aiea finished 2-1 in pool play, but Carlsbad, Calif. — which beat 'Aiea, 12-11, on Friday — finished 3-0 and will play for the West Zone title today.
Troy Barboza-Scanlan, Tyler Meditz and Travis Garcia-Perreira each had two hits, and Barboza-Scanlan and Austin Nagamine each had an RBI in 'Aiea's win yesterday.
HILO BOUNCED
Kaiden Meadows and Christian Sinnett homered as Bakersfield, Calif. defeated Hilo, 5-1, yesterday at the Cal Ripken (12-younger) Pacific Southwest Regional at Rohnert Park, Calif.
Hilo finished fourth in the regional with a 2-2 record.
RUNNING
999 FINISH AT VOLCANO
A total of 999 athletes, representing 33 states and including some from Canada and Japan, finished the Volcano Art Center's 25th annual Kilauea Volcano Runs Saturday.
Four races comprise the event, which starts and finishes at Kilauea Military Camp in Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park at an elevation of 4,000 feet.
Dan Goltz of Volcano won the 26.2-mile Volcano Marathon, called one of the "world's toughest measured marathons." Goltz finished in 3 hours, 21 minutes, 46 seconds to beat his winning time of last year by more than four minutes. Heather O'Malley of Hale'iwa won the women's marathon in 4:11:16.
Seth Wold of American Fork, Utah, set a new course record of 58:44 in winning the 10-mile Rim Run. Rani Tanimoto of Kealakekua was the fastest woman finisher in 1:15:45.
Donald Truesdell of Ransomville, N.Y., won the 5-mile Kilauea Caldera Run in 33:17, with Heather Harlan of Kealakekua leading the women in 40:52.
Nate Lee of Kamuela won the 5-mile walk in 44:22, with Amanda Masuyama of Hilo finishing first among the women in 57:06.
GOLF
CHING WINS BY SEVEN
Honolulu's Alex Ching shot a 1-under-par 71 yesterday to win the Optimist International Junior Golf Championships by seven strokes at Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.
Ching, a Punahou School senior, finished at 5-under 283 in the boys 16-18 division, which included 197 golfers. Ching's final round included five birdies, two bogeys and a double-bogey.
Micah Jacobsen of Fernandina Beach, Fla., shot 72 and was second at 290.
Two other Hawai'i golfers, Jared Sawada of Mililani and Cory Oride of Kaua'i, missed the 54-hole cut.
In the girls division, 'Aiea's Anna Jang finished tied for 29th at 85—320. Honolulu's Brittany Isobe missed the 54-hole cut.
Catherine O'Donnell of Ponte Vedra, Fla., won by nine strokes in the 110-player field at 72—287.
