SANTA MONICA — Several local teams travelled to the hallowed sands of Will Rogers State Beach over the weekend to participate in the fifth stop on the 2009 Corona Wide Open Tour. The tour, created by three-time Olympic Gold Medalist Karch Kiraly, is a grassroots effort designed to bring back the lifestyle of the sport as well as spark new interest for the up and coming generation.
Santa Barbara was represented in 5 divisions of play: The Men and Women’s Open, Men’s B, and Women’s A, and Women’s Unrated.
The Men’s Open fielded three teams from Santa Barbara including three former Gauchos. Avery Drost and Gaucho Aaron Mansfield lost a heart breaker in the first round but recovered in the first contender’s bracket match. They eventually finished in a tie for 13th.
Also in a tie for 13th were former Gauchos Ben Brockman and Alejandro Parra as well as Connor Hastings, a current assistant coach for Kathy Gregory at UCSB, and partner Matt Heagy.
The Men’s B received an injection of Santa Barbara with the teams of Rich Swanson-Dillan Bennett and Bill Payne-Brian Hayes. As it turned out, both teams competed in the same pool and were forced to battle each other for a spot in the playoffs. The playoff berth went to Bennett-Swanson with a score of 21-11.
In the playoffs, Bennett-Swanson continued to mow down the competition until the finals, where they encountered a young team from Hermosa Beach. In an all out groveling match, Bennett-Swanson battled with 8 match points against them in the unique “frozen score” format until a costly hitting error ended the match and their hopes for a U.S. Open berth.
There were a host of women’s teams who made the 90-minute trip to Santa Monica as well. In the Open Division, Melody Khadavi and Andrea Sanchez got off to a rough start against current pro Sarah Straton and partner Iwona Lodzik and finished in a tie for 25th. East Beach fixture Toi Vo and partner Maren Mochizuki competed in the unrated division and finished in 3rd place.
The Corona Wide Open Tour will go on a three tournament road trip hitting famous beaches across the country including North Avenue Beach in Chicago, Grand Haven, Michigan, and Pt. Pleasant, New Jersey before returning to California for the U.S. Open in Manhattan Beach September 25th-27th.
