Surf City Earns Its Name for the Next Two Weeks
The Assn. of Surfing Professionals World Championship Tour returns to Orange County next week for the $168,100 Bluetorch Pro men’s and women’s surfing event at Huntington Beach.
Top-ranked Sunny Garcia of Hawaii and Australia’s Mark Occhilupo will surf in the men’s competition and the women’s field should include Australia’s Layne Beachley and Hawaii’s Megan Abubo.
San Clemente’s Cory Lopez, ranked fourth, Shea Lopez and Shane Beschen and Laguna Niguel’s Pat O’Connell are also scheduled to participate.
The competition begins Wednesday and the men’s quarterfinals are scheduled for 9 a.m. July 23, followed by the semifinals at 11 a.m and the final at 12:40 p.m. The women’s quarterfinals are at 8 a.m. July 22, followed by the semifinals at 1 p.m. and the final at 2:15 p.m.
The Panasonic Shock Wave U.S. Open follows at Huntington Beach, July 22-30. The World Qualifying Series event for the ASP will offer a combined $125,000 purse for the men’s and women’s competitions.
KIRALY SIDELINED
San Clemente’s Karch Kiraly and Adam Johnson were supposed to play at the FIVB event in Italy this week to continue their pursuit of one of the two spots on the U.S. Olympic beach volleyball team. But Kiraly pulled out after sustaining a groin injury at the AVP Santa Barbara Karch Kiraly Classic last weekend.
Despite the setback, Kiraly and Johnson lead Eric Fonoimoana and Dain Blanton, formerly of Laguna Beach High, by 18 points in the FIVB Olympic qualification rankings for the final spot on the U.S. Olympic team.
With Kiraly sitting out this week, Johnson will stay stateside and play with San Juan Capistrano’s Adam Jewell at the AVP’s event in Muskegon, Mich.
Blanton and Fonoimoana are entered in the FIVB’s event in Italy.
PARTNER MERRY-GO-ROUND
Four weeks after winning their first AVP title together at Huntington Beach, the AVP’s third-ranked team of Brian Lewis and Canyon Ceman parted ways.
Lewis will play with a former partner, David Swatik, at the AVP’s Muskegon Open and Ceman will also team with a former partner, Mike Whitmarsh.
Swatik and Whitmarsh won three AVP events together last season after Swatik finished ninth with Lewis in the 1999 season opener.
Lewis and Swatik’s best finishes together were two seconds in 1998. Whitmarsh and Ceman teamed up to win at Belmar, N.J., in 1997.
“I’ve been dumped before and there are a lot of worse things that could happen,” Ceman said. “Whit’s a proven winner and we’ve won before together, so it was a natural.
“Brian said he was not satisfied with our results, but I was happy. I’ve never had six consecutive top-four finishes.
“But I know we had a lot of opportunities to do better.”
MAYBE THE BEST?
Misty May is only a 22-year-old rookie, but her impact on the women’s beach volleyball game is already unmistakable.
May and partner Holly McPeak are in Berlin this week for an FIVB event after winning two consecutive tournaments, including last weekend’s Beach Volleyball America title at Seal Beach. They have finished first or second in six of their last seven tournaments.
Once considered longshots to make the U.S. Olympic team, they are now one of the three teams--the others are Annett Davis and Jenny Johnson Jordan, and Liz Masakayan and Elaine Youngs--with the best chance at earning one of the two U.S. berths to compete in Sydney.
So how good is May?
Chris Marlowe, who played on the U.S. men’s Olympic team in 1984 and works as a television commentator, said her success doesn’t surprise him one bit.
In fact, he compared May to Kiraly, who has won three Olympic gold medals and is the game’s all-time leading tournament and money winner.
“Misty’s already one of the best all-around players out here,” Marlowe said. “When Karch was a rookie, he dominated. And I haven’t seen anybody come in like this since . . .”
Karch?
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