Budding stars of beach volleyball showed their stuff when the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) held its California Regional Championships recently at Dockweiler Beach. The annual event drew a record number of participants, including an all-time high with eight pools in the U14 Girls Division.
In the Girls U16 competition Jojo Schnabl (Hermosa Beach) and Rebecca Strehlow (Long Beach) held off Emma White (Manhattan Beach) and Katie Warshaw (Manhattan Beach) 29-27 to win the gold medal. Niki Collier (Manhattan Beach) and Camille Coffey (Sierra Madre) took home the bronze. The top two teams qualified for the AAU Junior Olympics to be held Aug. 3-5 in Des Moines, Iowa.
Lan Nguyen, of Manhattan Beach, qualified for the Girls Under-14 AAU-VB Rags Best of the Beach tournament to be held Aug. 15-16 at Roxbury Memorial Park in Beverly Hills.
Partnering with Christian Jones (Lakewood), Nguyen won the gold medal in the U14 Division. Tessa Fournier (Redondo Beach) and Olivia Bustamante (Redondo Beach) won silver medals.
In the U12 Division, April Bustamante (Redondo Beach) and Natalie Anselmo (Manhattan Beach) defeated Emma Smith (Manhattan Beach) and Catie Barkley (Manhattan Beach) 21-19 in the gold-medal game. Dominique Dodd (Manhattan Beach) and Megan Delgado (Lakewood) were bronze medalists
Lauren Kelly (Manhattan Beach) and Madison Reynolds (Torrance) won the silver medal in the U10 age group.
In boys competition, Duncan Lau (Hermosa Beach) and Kevin Inlow (Manhattan Beach) beat Grant Cederquist (Hermosa Beach) and Erik Reed (Hermosa Beach) for the gold medal in the U16 division. Third place went to Bobby Romano (El Segundo) and Blake Markland (Manhattan Beach).
In the U14 age group, Will Padden (Manhattan Beach) and Keith Anello (Hermosa Beach) took home the bronze.
It was an all-Manhattan Beach award ceremony in the U12 Division. Rob Mullahey and Casey McGarry (Manhattan Beach) defeated Turner Longyear and Roy McFarland in the gold medal match while Eric Cohen and Minh Nguyen placed third.
In the U10 Division, Bobby Barkley (Manhattan Beach) and Niko Forbes (Manhattan Beach) won gold, beating silver-medalists Jadon Jones (Lakewood) and Johnny Anselmo (Manhattan Beach).
The AAU Tour returns to the South Bay July 18-19 with the 16th Annual Junior National Beach Volleyball Championships to be held in Hermosa Beach, which will also host the AAU Tour Championships Aug. 2-3. ER