Sarah Baum charged into the semifinals of the qualifying stream on Day 5 of the 2010 Quiksilver ISA World Junior Surfing Championships in New Zealand as Team South Africa maintained a top four position in the team standings at the half way point of the world’s biggest annual event for surfers 18 and under.

Baum reveled in the clean one metre waves today, posting one of the top 10 heat totals of the Under 18 girls’ division to date – 13.0 points out of 20 – in winning her Round 3 heat to move into the last eight in the qualifying stream and she is now just two heats away from a place in the Grand Final.

After a slow start that saw her record just two short rides in first 10 minutes, the Athlone Park teenager who turns 16 tomorrow grabbed a narrow lead thanks to a solid 6.0 point ride at the halfway mark. She then cemented the victory with a manoeuvre packed ride that earned 7.0 with two minutes remaining.

Team SA captain Beyrick de Vries (Umhlanga) and Steven Sawyer (Jeffreys Bay) moved a step closer to higher honours by advancing to the last 12 in the qualifying stream of the U18 and U16 boys’ divisions respectively.

De Vries placed second behind good friend and former Kommetjie surfer Thomas Woods, now representing Australia, while Sawyer enhanced his already impressive credentials at the event by delivering the highest heat total of Round 3 in the U16 boys – 14.40 out of 20.

With three rounds of repecharge heats completed in each of the three divisions at the event, four members of Team SA have been eliminated from the event, leaving South Africa in fourth position in the standings. Hawaii, who still have their entire team in contention, USA with one out and reigning team champions Australia with two casualties, are in joint first position as the best three results from each division count.

Team SA is marginally ahead of hosts New Zealand (five out), France (four out) and Tahiti (six out).

Heidi Palmboom (Bluff) was the first South African eliminated, finishing fourth in her Round 2 repecharge heat for equal 41^st position overall in the U18 girls. Tanika Hoffman (Kommetjie) advanced to repo Round 3 where she too placed fourth for equal 29^th overall and contributed  340 points to the team total.

Dane Staples (St Francis Bay) is the only U18 boy on the sidelines, eliminated in third place in repo Round 3, while Diran Zakarian (Melkbosstrand) was ousted in U16 boys’ repo Round 2.

The Kommetjie duo of Davey Brand and Michael February have both advanced through two repecharge rounds to remain in contention in the U18 boys division. In the U16 boys, Jarred Veldhuis has been on fire since being relegated to the repecharge stream in Round 1. The 15 year-old from Kommetjie has won three successive heats to reach Round 4 where he is joined by Dylan Lightfoot (Jeffreys Bay) who also has posted victories in his two heats in the cutthroat repos.

The schedule for Tuesday’s action sees Rounds 3 qualifying stream action for all three divisions along with repecharge Rounds 4 & 5 for all. The day will be completed with the semifinals of the Aloha Cup where the top eight national teams from last year’s Quiksilver ISA World Junior Championships in Ecuador will compete in two heats of four in this form of relay surfing.

Surfing commences at 8.00am daily (9pm today SA time) on both podiums with live action video, commentary and scoring webcast from podium one and live scoring from podium two at www.isaworldjuniors.com

The 2010 South African Junior Surfing Team is supported by the National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund (NLDTF) and clothed by Quiksilver with additional support from Skullcandy and Power Balance.

See Surfing South Africa’s daily Press Release, photos and video footage focusing on the progress of the South Africans at www.surfingsouthafrica.co.za

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Surfing South Africa

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