Pitz competes at U.S. Open
Laguna Beach’s Taylor Pitz advanced to the quarterfinals at the Nike 6.0 Junior Pro girls’ event over the weekend at the U.S. Open of Surfing at the Huntington Beach Pier.
Pitz, who will be a junior at Laguna Beach High, won her heat in the first round with a score of 12.00 to advance to the quarterfinals. It was the second-best overall score of the first round.
In the quarterfinals, Pitz finished third in her heat with a score of 6.37, but only the top two scores advanced.
Pitz, who has been a USA Surf Team member the past two years, earned 1,250 tour points for her efforts.
Another Laguna resident, Eli Viszolay, competed in the Nike 6.0 Junior Pro boys’ event. Viszolay, who totaled a score of 5.98, was eliminated in the first round.
Laguna teams headed to Junior Olympics
The Laguna Beach Water Polo club has several teams headed up north for the S&R Sport USA Water Polo boys’ and girls’ Junior Olympics.
The girls’ teams, coached by Chad Beeler, include a 12-and-under girls’ team, a 14-and-under girls’ squad, a 12-and-under boys’ team and a 10-and-under co-ed team.
The 12-and-under girls’ team qualified second in the Southern Pacific Zone, behind Newport. However, the team has gone back and forth with Newport at tournaments. Laguna topped Newport at the San Diego County Cup in May.
Laguna Beach water polo Coach Ethan Damato said the 14U girls’ team also has five incoming freshmen into the Breakers program.
Upper-age Laguna girls’ players are playing for different teams. Damato said Breakers Jessica Shusko and Melena Masson are playing for SET, while Jessie Holechek and Yoshi Andersen are playing for Huntington Beach Water Polo Club. The SET girls qualified second in the 16U division, while Huntington Beach qualified fourth.
Lexie Ross, who will be a senior, is playing for the 18U SET team that qualified first in the zone.
Damato himself is coaching a 16-and-under boys’ team for TRIAD, which he said includes players from Laguna, Mission Viejo and Dana Hills. Nolan McConnell and Erik Hendrickson of Laguna are among the players on that team.
The boys’ Junior Olympics begin Saturday and continue until Tuesday. The girls’ competition begins Thursday and continues until Aug. 2.
Games will be played in Northern California, at and around the Stanford campus.
Pavlik is 17th at Manhattan Beach
