BRIEFS

MORNING LIGHT THIRD

HONOLULU — Morning Light, one of two yachts owned by Roy E. Disney, crossed the finish line in the Transpacific Yacht Race early Thursday morning, just six minutes after sunrise in Hawaii.

The college-age crew of Morning Light, a Transpac 52, finished third in its division, crossing at 6:09 a.m. behind another TP52, John Kilroy’s Samba Pa Ti, which finished more than four hours earlier. Holua, Brack Duker’s Santa Cruz 70 which had been the Division 2 frontrunner, finished second.

Morning Light was accompanied over the 2,225 nautical miles by Cheyenne, a 125-foot power catamaran, which used to be a sailboat — Steve Fossett’s PlayStation. Cheyenne carried the production team for the documentary about the young crew and their journey in the Transpac. Disney plans to release the movie next year.

“That was the longest, hardest, struggling, stressful thing I’ve ever done in my life,” said skipper Jeremy Wilmot. “But at the end of the day I loved it.”

HAGESTAD IN FOURTH

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. — Junior golfer Stewart Hagestad of Newport Beach shot a 72 to end the day in a seven-way tie for fourth place after the first round of the Optimist International Junior Golf Championships at PGA National Resort and Spa.

Hagestad, who is entering his junior year at the International Junior Golf Academy in Hilton Head, S.C., is competing in a field of 201 golfers on the Champion and General courses at PGA National. The Champion is the same course the pros compete on in the Honda Classic each spring. Hagestad will play two more rounds before the tournament cut, and then the top 50 boys plus ties will compete in a final round on Sunday.

ANDUJAR SCORES IN WIN

FRISCO, Texas — Tessa Andujar, who will be a freshman at Corona del Mar High, scored a goal in the 64th minute to help lead the Slammers Futbol Club’s girls’ 14-and-under team to a 2-0 victory in round-robin play of the U.S. Youth Soccer National Championships.

The Slammers also won on Wednesday. They play today at 9:30 a.m.

The Slammers’ girls 18-and-under team, which includes locals Taylor Fallon and Jacqueline Zinke, won on Wednesday and tied Thursday.

The SoCal Blues’ girls’ 15-and-under team, which has locals Elizabeth Eddy and Gillian Hogan, are 1-0-1 after two days.

Preliminary play of the championships ends today and bracket play starts Saturday with the finals on Sunday.

LOFGREN MOVES ON

STRATHCLYDE, Scotland — Newport Harbor High product Esther Lofgren along with three others in the U.S. women’s quadruple sculls won their heats to advance to Sunday’s final at the World Rowing Under 23 Championships.

They clocked the fastest time of the heats.

Jill Austin, also a Newport Harbor product, will race in the repachages today as part of the women’s lightweight double sculls.

MAY-TREANOR WINS POOL

GSTAAD, Switzerland — Newport Harbor High alumnus Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh swept their opponents to capture their pool this week at the Fédération Internationale de Volleyball World Championships.

The top-seeded tandem defeated Chiaki Kusuhara and Mika Teru of Japan 21-10, 21-14 Thursday. Earlier this week, they downed Rachel Wacholder and Tyra Turner and Judith Augoustides and Leigh-Ann Naidoo of South Africa in two games.

Jennifer Boss and April Ross, a Newport Harbor product, did not advance. The pair finished fourth in their pool after a hard-fought match against Canadians Dana Cooke and Annie Martin. Boss and Ross won, 27-25, 20-22, 15-12, but finished pool play 1-2.

Three American women’s teams are in the same half of the elimination bracket, and there’s a possibility that May-Treanor and Walsh and Turner and Wacholder could meet in the second round if they both win their first-round matches. On the men’s side, Jake Gibb of Costa Mesa and Sean Rosenthal fell to the Dutch team Reinder Nummerdor and Richard Schuil, after recording two straight sweeps, in a match that determined the pool winner. Gibb and Rosenthal lost, 30-28, 21-19, in 54 minutes.

Mike Lambert and Stein Metzger won their pool with a 3-0 record after beating Jonas Reckermann and Mischa Urbatzka of Germany, 21-10, 21-17.

Former teammates Matt Fuerbringer and Sean Scott, who are no longer playing together on the Assn. of Volleyball Professionals tour, are still playing in the FIVB world championship since they previously qualified for it. Fuerbringer, an Estancia High product, and Scott, were 0-2 in pool play before they defeated Florian Huth and Kjell Schneider 21-16, 21-19, which was good enough to advance.

Play in the round of 32 elimination brackets begins today for men and women.

LOCALS FINISH TODAY

SEAL BEACH — Bryce Greeley, who recently graduated from Newport Harbor High, is tied for 13th after two rounds (72-75) in the CORE Reality Holdings Junior at Old Ranch.

Justin Morehead (79-77), who also just graduated from Newport Harbor, is tied for 49th.

Taylor Keddington (77-86), who will be a senior at Corona del Mar, is tied for 59th and Ryan Knapp, an incoming junior at Estancia, is tied for 61st.

Michael Jae Woo Im of Fullerton turned in a 3-under-par 69 Thursday to take the lead in the tournament that ends today.

— From staff reports