Last week, we talked about the NORCECA qualifier #2, played on Friday April 5th at Manhattan Beach. In it, the right to compete in the NORCECA Continental Tour Finals (May 11-15) was won by Miles Evans and Chase Budinger, winning in the finals against the team they narrowly trailed in Olympic Qualification, Trevor Crabb and Theo Brunner.
No Olympic qualification points were earned by either team that day, but a significant victory in the Road to Paris was won nevertheless by Evans and Budinger. They earned the opportunity to play in a tournament that boasts similar Qualification Points as a Beach Pro Tour Challenge event, without the competition level of a Challenge event. So what then looked like a very minor lead in points, was a bit deceiving, due to the profitable future result that could be expected from Evans and Budinger.
At the time, Miles and Chase only trailed Trev and Theo by only 80 points (see below from 4/2/24.) While Trevor and Theo had secured a 9th, a 9th, and a 19th in Doha, Recife, and Saquarema respectively, Miles and Chase had secured a 13th, 4th, and 5th in the same 3 events. Miles and Chase had gained ground in 2024, and had those juicy NORCECA points set out on a platter for them just a month before qualification ends (June 10th).
So we shouldn’t be surprised when we look back at the weekend that Trevor and Theo just had in Guadalajara, Mexico. With their Olympic Qualification lead at its narrowest at any point so far in the quad, Trevor and Theo won their first Challenge gold of the year, and second in the qualification window (also won gold at Espinho in July 2023.).
Trevor and Theo beat Australia and the Netherlands (both in three sets) to get to the semifinals. Then, they beat the hottest team on tour right now, Cuba, in three sets (18-21, 21-18, 15-13) in the semis before beating Germany in the finals, also in three sets. All the while, Chase and Miles fell too the silver medalists Germany in the Round of 16 and took a 9th.
The result, Trevor and Theo’s Olympic Qualification lead balloons to 480 points with six Beach Pro Tour events remaining (4 Elite 16’s and 2 Challenges). The first of which is in Tepic, Mexico this coming weekend. Crabb and Brunner find themselves seeded directly into the main draw (11th overall).
Meanwhile, Evans and Budinger will start in the Qualifiers, seeded 3rd there.
Taking a closer look at the men’s Olympic bubble, we see that Evans and Budinger have currently the 15th most points on tour, and lead the last team in, Chile’s Grimalt and Grimalt, by 680 points. They would be the first in a list of five men’s teams that fall victim to the harsh rule of the Country Quota.
We’ll cover all this and more tomorrow on Bet the Beach Live, Episode #2. Wednesday nights, 9p ET, 6p PT. If you missed Episode #1, you can catch up here.
Chris DeTurk – April 16, 2024
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