Swatch Girls Pro Junior Gets Underway on Day Two

SEIGNOSSE, Les Bourdaines, France (Thursday, May 13, 2010) - Attention was focused on the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) Swatch Girls Pro Junior today where high quality small wave surfing showed cased the talented mix of top European and overseas under-21 junior female surfers. The Swatch Girls Pro a 6-Star Women's Star Series event called a lay day following a decision by event officials not to resume round 3 of competition.

Clean small 2ft (0.5m) waves greeted competitors at the main site at Les Bourdaines early this morning and as the tide dropped offered a small window to run the Swatch Girls Pro Junior. With huge tides at the main contest site timing is crucial to maximise what waves are on offer throughout the various stages of the day.

The juniors impressed with a great display of radical small-wave surfing as they battled it out in this inaugural ASP Swatch Girls Pro Junior. Courtney Conlogue (USA) 17, was a standout as she continued her hot form destroying both the lefts and rights showing she is quickly becoming one of the favourites to take out the Swatch Girls Pro Junior title.

Starting her 20-minute heat with an impressive 8.5 out of a possible 10 Colognue found her backup of 7.65 and finished with the four highest single scores of the day demonstrating her complete dominance in the water.

"I caught that first wave to get the ball rolling and getting that 8.5 score at the start took a lot of pressure off letting me relax and focus on getting one more wave to build on my total. I try and remain relaxed out there," continued Colognue on her strategy when competing. "I knew I needed just one more score to get through so I just worked on replacing scores and hoping for the waves to come through"
 

Current ASP World Junior Champion Laura Enever (AUS) did not falter in her debut appearance at the Swatch Girls Pro finishing first in her 20-minute low-scoring clash. All eyes are on Enever as one of the possible finalist and with that amount of pressure added to her surfing managed to maintain her composure and give her campaign the ideal kick-start.

"I am very happy to start off my campaign here in France and getting that first heat out of the way is always good to settle the nerves and get a feel for the competition," stated Enever. "This is one of the best 6-Star events I have been to in a long time and with such a good set up I love it here."

"It has been a good learning experience," continued Enever about her year as being ASP Women's Junior World Champion. "You get that expectation put on you and your name becomes important but I have had some good and bad heats being knocked out early in some events and in others I have managed some second places. However as a whole it's been good and I am excited for the rest of the year and I will just enjoy myself and not worry about anything and concentrate on my surfing and enjoy myself."

Nage Melamed (HAW) 16, advanced to the quarter-finals along with Pauline Ado (FRA) in a closely contested heat. Getting off to a great start Melamed had racked up two solid rides ahead of her rivals allowing her to remain dominant in the line-up making sure not to let her opponents andy opportunity to sneak under her guard.

"It was really close and getting a little tight there at the end so I just tried to hold my position and make it through because I started well and looked for the better waves with a little more face on them to try and get the better scores. I felt really comfortable out there in these conditions because my home break is a beach break similar to this one today so it all kind of felt like home to me."
 

First call tomorrow will be at 08:00 (local Time) with both the 6-Star Women's Star Series Swatch Girls Pro and the Swatch Girls Pro Junior on standby for a possible 08:30 start to competition.

The Swatch Girls Pro Junior an ASP Grade-2 event will run in conjunction with the Swatch Girls Pro bringing together a fantastic blend of both European and overseas talent for this second event on the ASP European Women's Pro Junior Series.

The ASP 6-Star Swatch Girls Pro and ASP Grade-2 Swatch Girls Pro Junior run from May 12 to 16 at Les Bourdains in Seignosse, France. The event is webcast LIVE at www.aspeurope.com where all results, photos, daily press releases and videos will be available.

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Up Coming Round 2 Match-ups Swatch Girls Pro Junior

Heat 5: Coco Ho (HAW), Leticia Canales (EUK), Joanna Giansanti (FRA), Sarah Baum (ZAF)
Heat 6: Alana Blanchard (HAW), Garazi Sanchez (EUK), Courtney Conlogue (USA), Bianca Buitendag (ZAF)
Heat 7: Bruna Schmitz (BRA), Ana Sarmento (PRT), Leila Hurst (HAW), Brittani Nicholl (AUS)
Heat 8: Joanne Defay (FRA) Marion Bouzigues (FRA), Bethany Hamilton (HAW), Tarryn Chudleigh (ZAF)

Results Round 2 Swatch Girls Pro Junior

Heat 1: Nage Melamed (HAW) 12.80, Pauline Ado (FRA) 10.55, Maud Lecar (FRA) 10.25, Freya Prumm (AUS) 9.45
Heat 2: Alizee Arnaud (FRA) 11.00, Lea Mengual (FRA) 7.25, Ana Morau (FRA) 6.00, Sage Erickson (USA) 5.95
Heat 3: Cannelle Bulard (REU) 13.10, Justine Dupont (FRA) 8.90, Chantelle Rautenbach (ZAF) 7.40, Carina Duarte (PRT) 4.15
Heat 4: Laura Enever (AUS) 8.25, Felicity Palmateer (AUS) 7.40, Leticia Canales (EUK) 2.90, Marina Lopez (ESP) 2.60
Heat 5: Sarah Baum (ZAF) 8.50, Coco Ho (HAW) 7.55, Leticia Canales (EUK) 4.40, Joanna Giansanti (FRA) 2.85

Results Round 1 Swatch Girls Pro Junior

Heat 1: Nage Melamed (HAW) 13.75, Sage Erickson (USA) 6.25, Marie Mitsuko Bochaton (FRA) 5.85
Heat 2: Lucie Milochau (FRA) 8.25, Freya Prumm (AUS) 7.45, Maria Abecasis (PRT) 6.65, Ainara Aymat (EUK) 4.20
Heat 3: Chantelle Rautenbach (ZAF) 5.50, Marina Lopez (ESP) 4.70, Lucie Milochau (FRA) 3.05
Heat 4: Felicity Palmateer (AUS) 11.50, Carina Duarte (PRT) 5.75, Lucia Martino (ESP) 2.35
Heat 5: Joanna Giansanti (FRA) 7.75, Bianca Buitendag (ZAF) 7.65, Joanne Panzini (FRA) 7.50, Natalie Anzivino (USA) 6.20
Heat 6: Courtney Conlogue (USA) 16.15, Sarah Baum (ZAF) 11.40, Josephine Costes (FRA) 4.90, Raine Jackson (GBR) 2.35
Heat 7: Leila Hurst (HAW) 9.25, Tarryn Chudleigh (ZAF) 8.50, Fanny Brice (GBR) 3.00
Heat 8: Bethany Hamilton (HAW) 11.50, Brittani Nicholl (AUS) 7.40, Yolanda Aneiros (ESP) 3.75, Erika Franco (ESP) 3.05