Small swells catch out local hopes as Geraldton groms fall short in round two of WA junior titles

The second stop of the WA junior surfing titles produced small swells but still had plenty of action at the weekend.

More than 100 of the State’s best young surfers hit the waves with local attention focused on reigning under-12 champion Cruz MacDonald and under-16 national ranking points leader Edel Rodden.

Unfortunately for MacDonald, who has moved up to under-14 this year, he would not make it to the finals getting knocked out in the second round.

After finishing second in his first heat MacDonald struggled to get anything going in round two recording a lowly 3.50 with very few good points scoring waves on offer.

There was better news for Rodden who eased into the under-16 final after taking out both her first-round and semifinal heats with scores above nine.

In the final, however, Rodden finished last on a 6.93 with wave selection once again at a premium.

A 5.00 on her third wave had her in second place and kept her in touch with Rosie Gillett who was leading with a 9.67.

But Rodden could not find a companion score to keep pace and despite the 5.00 being the second best-scored wave of the final, four scores under 2 were not going to cut it as she needed a 4.68 to get above Gillett.

Kalani Catto was also in the under-16 division but fell short in the semi-finals finishing bottom with a 4.70

In the under-18 division, Lani Grant scraped through to the semi-finals but also fell foul of the flat conditions finishing with a 6.50 to get knocked out.

Saskia Newman had a similar fate finishing second in her first heat but despite pumping in more than eight waves in the semi-final could not find a 4.08 to progress.

Hopefully, home conditions bring better fortune as the State titles now hear north to Geraldton in July for its third and final stop with seven State champions set to be crowned.

While both Rodden and MacDonald would need miracles to claim the junior rankings title there will still be plenty of desire to do well in the home swell while Rodden still leads the national under-16 rankings.