Top-seeded Connor Hance of Torrance, Calif., and Abigail Chiu of Austin, Texas, advanced through the first round of the USTA National Selection Tournament on Saturday at Central Oahu Regional Park.
Hance, seeded first in the Boys 18 singles draw, defeated Gil Assi of Hilo 6-2, 6-1. Jace Akagi-Okuma of Wahiawa won his first-round match 6-3, 7-6 (1) over Nathan Safran of Stanford, Calif. Akagi-Okuma then fell to second-seeded Keegan Smith of San Diego 6-2, 6-3 in the round of 16. Jordan Azuma of Honolulu also won his first-round match 6-1, 6-3 over Edward Ayers of San Antonio before losing his next match.
In the Girls 18 singles bracket, Chiu defeated Niluka Madurawe of Sunnyvale, Calif., 6-1, 6-1. Taylor Lau of Honolulu, the highest-seeded local player, lost to Elle Christensen of Los Angeles, 6-4, 6-2.
In boys doubles, the third-seeded duo of Akagi-Okuma and Seann Esaki advanced with an 8-2 win over Larichev and Bill Duo. In girls doubles, Lau teamed with Carolyn Campana to reach the quarterfinals.
The event is one of the highest level junior tournament hosted by the USTA Hawaii Pacific Section and is one of four National Selection tournaments held across the nation.
UH’s Porlier-Langlois 15th in shot put
Hawaii’s Alex Porlier-Langlois finished 15th in the women’s shot put at Saturday’s NCAA West Preliminary Championships in Lawrence, Kan.
Porlier-Langlois, who threw 53 feet, 1 inch, just missed the cut of top-12 finishers who advanced to the NCAA Championships. Teammate Charlinda Ioane fouled on her first two attempts before recording a throw of 42-2 on her final attempt.
Colorado’s Pierce Murphy, an Island School alum from Kauai, finished 25th in the men’s 5,000-meter run with a time of 14 minutes, 28.87 seconds.
>> Emory sophomore Daniel Pietsch, a Seabury Hall alum, won the men’s 400-meter dash at Saturday’s NCAA Division III Track and Field Championships in Waverly, Iowa.
Pietsch rallied down the stretch to win in 46.92 seconds, 0.05 seconds ahead of the runner-up, and earned All-America honors for the second year. As a freshman, he placed eighth in the 400.
Manuel, Moore win first-round heats in Fiji
Hawaii’s Malia Manuel and Carissa Moore won their first-round heats Saturday at the Fiji Women’s Pro in Namotu, Tavarua, Fiji.
Manuel had a two-wave score of 15.67 to top fellow Hawaii surfers Alessa Quezon (14.53) and Tatiana Weston-Webb (6.47).
Moore scored a 15.90 to beat American Sage Erickson (12.44) and Barbados’ Chelsea Tuach (5.93).
The two other local surfers in the event — Bethany Hamilton and Coco Ho — finished third in their heats.
>> Eli Olson of the North Shore won The Local Motion Surf Into Summer on Saturday at Ala Moana Bowls.
Olson beat fellow Hawaii surfers Billy Kemper, Noa Mizuno and Kaulana Apo in the final heat.
Olson earned $2,500 and 1,000 points in the World Surf League qualifying series event.