Two surfers from Hawaii claimed positions on the podium at the Corona Open Mexico, but missed out on the overall victories after four days of competition, claiming second and third place.
In heat two of the women’s semifinals, Honolulu’s Carissa Moore, the current World No. 1 and reigning four-time WSL Champion, put up a score of 12.57 on seven waves surfed, with her best two waves netting 6.67 and 5.90. Her score was not enough to overtake Stephanie Gilmore of Australia, who scored 14.40 on seven waves. Moore finished in a tie for third place.
Gilmore went on to face another Hawaii surfer in the women’s final. Kauai’s Malia Manuel scored 15.27 on five waves, with bests of 7.00 and 8.27. Manuel fell just shy of Gilmore’s final score of 15.83 on four waves surfed. Manuel finished second overall in the event.
A win for Manuel would have kept her in the Champions Tour for the next season, but the loss will instead relegate her to the Challenger Series, where she will compete to make her return to the top 17.
Despite the semifinal loss, Moore will head into the Rip Curl WSL Finals in San Clemente, Calif., as the top seed. The WSL Finals will begin Sept. 9.
Hawaii undefeated in Legion world series
Hawaii’s Team Central improved to 2-0 in pool play at the American Legion World Series with a 5-2 victory over Ridge St. Mary’s Post 255 of Maryland on Friday at Keeter Stadium in Shelby, N.C.
Ridge took a two-run lead in the top of the first inning, but Team Central answered with two runs in the bottom of the inning and took the lead on Alohi Arecchi’s RBI groundout in the second inning. Team Central added two more runs in the third with Hunter Sasaki and Vance Oshiro driving in runs.
Team Central pitcher Ty Yukumoto recovered from the rough start and struck out six over 6 2/3 innings before Hunter Hirayama got the final out.
Team Central takes on Tupelo Post 49 of Mississippi today at 1:30 p.m.