DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Joel Centeio scored a perfect 10 on this wave in the finals on his way to repeating as champion in the Ronnie Burns Memorial Junior Pro held at Kewalo Basin yesterday.
Perfect 10s
give Centeio title
The annual Billabong Ronnie Burns Memorial Junior Pro for surfers 20 and younger included 29 of Hawaii's best and one wave-starved Floridian.
And it was the Sunshine State's Eric Taylor who nearly ate his way through the rest of the field in waves with 2- to 6-foot faces yesterday at Kewalo Basin.
But a perfect 10 wave score in the final from defending champion Joel Centeio ended up keeping the Hawaii Junior Pro title in the state -- and in his possession, delivering the Makakilo resident a second consecutive win at the event.
"I feel great," Centeio, 20, said. "There were some good waves all day, and I just tried to wait for the ones that had the best shape, and I did so and it paid off. ... I was worried, but I'm glad I beat (Taylor)."
Centeio's perfect mark in the final was not his first of the day. He also scored a 10 in winning his semifinal heat -- again over Taylor, who qualified for the final in second place.
But it was Taylor who jumped way out in front in the final, riding five waves and nabbing two solid seven-plus-point scores before Centeio had ridden more than one. The Floridian continued to show his hunger for surf by catching a heat-high 10 total waves, though he had only surfed at Kewalo Basin on one other occasion before this visit to Hawaii.
"The waves have been flat in Florida for like three weeks," said the 19-year-old Vero Beach native. "I just wanted to come out here and surf and have fun. ... I'm just happy I came out here and made a final; the competition is so hard out here."
Still, only the two highest scores count. And though Centeio rode but four waves in the final, the second-to-last was a 5-foot, well-formed left that allowed him to execute a series of huge backside top turns on, riding all the way inside and resulting in the perfect 10. Combined with a 7.25 he received earlier, that gave him 17.25 total -- one point better than second-place Taylor (16.25).
Age is the only restriction at the Junior Pro, as both young professionals and amateurs compete each year. The pros win cash for high finishes -- for Centeio, $2,500 -- while amateur winnings are placed in a travel fund.
With the victory, Centeio also receives Hawaii's top seed at this season's World Junior Championships (tentatively scheduled for Jan. 15-29 at Sunset Beach on Oahu's North Shore) and a good opportunity to win the prestigious world junior title.
"It's huge, the top seed coming out of Hawaii," Centeio said. "That means I won't have the hardest draw, like the lower seeds. I'm looking forward to (the World Juniors), and that's the one I really want to do good in. Being that it's in Hawaii, at Sunset, it would be good to win that one, become the world junior champ (here)."
Rounding out the four-man final yesterday were Sunset Beach's Nathan Carroll, 18, in third place with 15.6 points, and 19-year-old Jamie O'Brien (14.85), also from the North Shore, in fourth. Carroll was the only amateur among the group.
"I was feeling pretty confident out there," Carroll said. "I just gave it my all. In the final, Joel just got the (best) waves."
Carroll and O'Brien also qualified for the World Juniors, as did Hawaii's three other top finishers from the semifinals: Daniel Jones, Sean Moody and Kekoa Bacalso. Taylor had to qualify in his own region -- and did so by winning the Florida Junior Pro in March. He is currently the highest-rated junior in the U.S.
"I'm friends with Eric," Carroll said, "and I'm stoked for him. He deserved (second place). He was ripping out there -- he was ripping the whole contest. What he got, he deserved to get."
An Expression Session was also held yesterday, between the semis and final. C.J. Kanuha won Most Futuristic Maneuver, while T.J. Barron took Most Vertical honors and Hank Gaskell, Highest Air. They won $100 each.
