Soquel High tennis players Benja Bellito and Torin Miller, the Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League doubles champions, suffered a 6-1, 6-3 loss to No. 4 seed Devin Stuppin and Marco Magnano of Saint Ignatius in the first round of the Central Coast Section Boys Doubles Tennis Championship at Imperial Courts in Aptos on Wednesday.

The semifinals and finals for the singles and doubles championships take place at the same site on Thursday, beginning at 1 p.m.

Soquel junior Hudson Ward, the SCCAL singles champion, had a tough draw when the singles bracket was released a few weeks ago.

A three-star recruit according to tennisrecruiting.net, Ward was scheduled to face No. 2 seed Arjun Krishnan, a freshman at Lynbrook and a five-star recruit.

Krishnan withdrew from the tournament, forcing a redraw on Monday, and Ward got a new opponent: No. 1 Somei Ogata, a Saratoga junior and four-star recruit.

Ward battled fiercely against the top seed in the first round of the singles tournament at Imperial Courts on Tuesday but suffered a 6-3, 6-4 loss.

In the singles semifinals Thursday, Ogata faces Martin Dimitrov of Bellarmine, and No. 3 Alexander Sanford of Archbishop Mitty faces Mike Hein of Los Gatos.

Awards

Ebio takes first >> Santa Cruz Sentinel freelance photographer Raul Ebio earned a first-place finish in the California News Publishers Association’s annual contest honoring the best work in the state that was published in 2024.

The CNPA’s 2025 California Journalism Awards Gala was held at the Hilton Universal City in Los Angeles on Saturday.

Ebio’s work was recognized in the Sports Action Photo category for daily publications in the Division 3 circulation range. He submitted an artistically captured image of Aptos High swimmer

competing in the 100-yard backstroke at the Central Coast Section Championships in San Jose on May 4, 2024.

The Associated Press Sports Editors announced last month that Ebio’s photo of Fajardo took eighth place for Sports Action photos submitted in the C Division of its national contest. Awards winners will be honored at the 2025 APSE Summer Conference banquet at the Courtyard Minneapolis Downtown in Minnesota on June 28.

Golf

Pasatiempo praised >> Pasatiempo Golf Club in Santa Cruz earned massive praise by being honored in Golf Digest’s “America’s 100 Greatest Golf Courses” rankings for 2025-26. The Alister MacKenzie-designed gem checked in at No. 93.

A greens and bunker restoration on the 95-year-old course, completed by architect Jim Urbina in late 2024, has received rave reviews from Pasatiempo’s members as well as pretty much everyone who steps foot on the brilliantly challenging, aesthetically pleasing layout.

The storied course has hosted two USGA championships: the 1986 U.S. Women’s Amateur and the 2004 U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur.

Pine Valley Golf Club in New Jersey retained its No. 1 ranking. Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia, Cypress Point Club in Pebble Beach, Shinnecock Hills Golf Club in Southampton, N.Y., and Oakmont Country Club in Pennsylvania rounded out the top five.

Pasatiempo has been previously honored by Golf Digest in its “Best In State,” “100 Greatest Public,” and “100 Greatest” rankings.