High Point Saturday Qualifying

High Point, NC – The U.S. Pro Wakeboard Tour’s Qualifying at Festival Park was full of surprises on Saturday.

Many of the Pro Tour’s top riders barely made it through to Sunday to compete in the Semifinals and Finals.

The Pro Tour’s top three, Darin Shapiro, Parks Bonifay and Shaun Murray who have accounted for all four wins on the Pro Tour in 2001, finished near the bottom of their Pro Men’s Quarterfinal heats on Saturday.

With the exception of Daniel Watkins, who took first in Heat #2, the top qualifiers in the Men’s Quarterfinal came somewhat out of nowhere.

Rob Struharik who was the first rider off the dock in the Men’s Quarterfinals, barely making it to Saturday after qualifying on Friday in the Last Chance Qualifier, finished first in Heat #1. Struharik was the 27th seed in the quarterfinals, but he will be one of the top three seeds in Sunday’s Pro Men’s Semifinals.

In the third Heat Ryan Wynne, the 24th seed took the top spot, followed by Erik Ruck and Pro Tour leader Shapiro.

In the Women’s Semifinals, Dallas Friday and Marie Botved-Studd continued to be the one-two punch on the Pro Tour in 2001, taking out heats one and two in qualifying, giving them the top two spots in Sunday’s Pro Women’s Finals.

Tara Hamilton, the 2000 Pro Tour Season Champion, made her return to competition after missing the first two stops in 2001 due to injury. Hamilton secured a place in Sunday’s Finals, qualifying third in the first heat.