GRANT ELLIS/ASSOCIATION OF SURFING PROFESSIONALS Andy Irons, who is ranked No. 1 in the ASP, beat Iker Fuentes in the third round of the Billabong Pro at Mundaka yesterday.

Irons flattens Hedge in
Billabong Pro meet

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Hawaii's Andy Irons, the current ratings leader in the Association of Surfing Professionals, beat Nathan Hedge of Australia today to advance to the quarterfinals of the 2002 Billabong Pro Mundaka at Mundaka, Euskadi, Spain.

Irons will now face Brazil's Flavio Padaratz, who defeated Kalani Robb of Hawaii today.

"I'm confident and trying to do my own thing, but it's hard not to look over my shoulder and see what the other guys are doing," Irons said.

"Everyone is surfing so good, it's just a matter of them catching waves and having good luck. Hopefully the swell increases for tomorrow."

Irons controlled his heat against Hedge, opening with a 7.0 and then collected a 7.85 for a comfortable lead.

Joining Irons and Padaratz in the quarterfinals are Neco Padaratz of Brazil and Australia's Michael Lowe, Taj Burrow, Luke Egan, Kieren Perrow and Beau Emerton.

Local small colleges dominate Dillingham

Hawaii Pacific's Erik Sandblom and Michael Maata will play in the finals of the Dillingham Grand Prix Tennis Championships today.

Brigham Young Hawaii's Petra Gaspar and Tagifano Soonalole-Taosoga will play in the women's final.

Both finals began at 1 p.m. at Punahou School.

Sandblom beat Jesse Walter 6-4, 6-2 and Maata advanced when Blaz Jurjec withdrew with an injury in the second set.

Gaspar, the top seed, swept UH's Stacy Hakikawa 6-0, 6-0 and Soonalole-Taosoga beat UH's Lauren Fitzgerald 6-3, 6-2.

Friis tames Tantalus in Mid-Pacific run

Former Hawaii Pacific runner Christian Friis won the Mid-Pacific Road Runners Club's Tantalus 10K yesterday, beating Clint Iizuka-Sheeley by 5 minutes, 8 seconds.

Friis was the only runner to finish in under an hour, being timed at 58:43.

Mina Casey-Pang and Tomoko Iizuka-Sheeley were both credited with times of 1:19:53, but Casey-Pang edged her for the women's title.

Basketball league expands statewide

Hawaii Basketball Association Youth Program is expanding its Leagues and Player Development Clinics statewide.

Although it is based on Oahu now, it plans to expand to the other islands by next year.

The Youth League has two seasons, fall and spring. For more information, call 223-5620.

Lanai Sporting Clays to host target shoot

Lanai Pine Sporting Clays will host the fifth annual Hawaii Pacific Open Clay Target Shoot Oct. 25-27, offering $20,000 in prize money.

The competition is open to all skill levels. All classes will be under National Sporting Clays Association rules.

For more information, call Dennis Rapp at 559-4600.

Warriors finish last at Fresno Lexus Classic

The Hawaii golf team was unable to make a move on the final day, finishing 18th at the Fresno Lexus Classic at Fresno, Calif., yesterday.

Matt Kodama led the Warriors with a 227 over three rounds, which was good for 49th individually.

Other scorers for Hawaii were James Beston in 69th, Kellen- Floyd Asao in 76th, Ben Douglas in 86th and Manarii Gauthier in 91st.

Hawaii finished six strokes behind Fresno State's "B" team.

The Bulldogs won the tournament by two strokes over Texas-El Paso thanks to medalist Nick Watney's 12-under-par 204.