CARLOS MUÑOZ STEALS THE SHOW FOR COSTA RICA AT ISA WORLD JUNIOR SURFING GAMES ECUADOR 2009

by: Ellen Zoe Golden and Carlos Brenes

Salinas, ECUADOR  March 31, 2009 – Just as he aced the Open, Junior and Boys categories in the last date of the Circuito Nacional de Surf when he won trophies in all those categories, today Carlos Muñoz of Esterillos dominated all the Heats in which he participated at the International Surfing Association World Junior Surfing Games (WJSG) Ecuador 2009.

First, in Heat 6 Round 3, he whipped one of the favorites to the Under 18 title, Dean Bowen of Australia, by leaving Bowen in 3rd, with Muñoz surfing to 2nd behind Brazil’s Thiago Guimaraes at 1st. Then, in Heat 9 Round 2 of the Under 16, with absolute control, he surpassed Ricardo Luke of Puerto Rico (4th), Cristoban de Col of Peru (3rd), and Damien Norman of New Zealand (2nd) to the top of the pile for 1st place.

The crowd on Playa La FAE dedicated their applause to Muñoz once he left the water in front of Podium 1, with the 1st place win in the Under 16. He now has the distinction of being one of the 24 best surfers in the youngest division of the event. In his 20 minutes of competition, he began the Heat with a wave of 7.5 points, waited for almost 10 minutes on the inside for his second best one while his opponents occupied the upper positions with better scores. Muñoz managed to get to 1st place after a bullfight that resulted in a wave score of 7.8.

As to the Under 18 category, Muñozis is now within the 16 best advancing to Round 4, and passing this next Round would mean entering the SemiFinals of the World Junior Surfing Games. Today, with the Under 18 at Podium 2 at the beach breaks, Muñoz for the first time applied an aerial to impress the judges.

“I feel very motivated with what the Team has been doing here, and personally it’s helped me to be able to do what I have done in the Under 16 and Under 18. In the Circuito National de Surf in Costa Rica I got used to running in several categories, so I hope to be able to do that even more for the rest of this competition,” expressed Muñoz in an interview that was transmitted live by Quiksilver after his action in the Under 16 division.

In addition to what Muñoz was able to accomplish today at La FAE, the Limonese Jordan Hernandez also passed his heat coming in 2nd place in the Under 16 Round 2 behind Hawaii’s Matthew Costa Jr. Hernandez joins the 24 best surfers to advance, demonstrating an excellent premier on the international stage.

And finally, Maykol Torres (Esterillos) returned to the wáter today in Round 1 of the Under 18 repercharge and responded according with his best surfing level, passing with 1st place to the next Round.

Twelve-year-old Noe Mar McGonagle of Pavones lost his Under 16 Heat today, and fell to repercharge in spite of a valiant effort when he faced surfers from New Zealand, Hawaii and the United States.  Still to come today, Ariel Agüero who will run waves near 6 p.m. (7 p.m. Costa Rica time), in Round 2 of the Under 18 repercharge.Tomorrow, on the 4th day of competition of the ISA World Junior Surfing Games Ecuador 2009, Costa continues with all 11 surfers in the competition.

To view the Costa Rica National Junior Surf Team in live in action, go to http://isaworldjuniors.com/2009/Home.php?lang=es        

CONTACTS:

Ellen Zoe Golden/The Bevy PR EllenZoe@aol.com 1-800-548-1753 International 506-8346-7643 Costa Rica

Carlos Enrique Brenes/Federacion De Surf carlos.enrique.brenes@gmail.com  506-2235-6400 Costa Rica