Maui plays host to inaugural HHSAA Surfing State Championships

Brian Bautista | SL

The first ever HHSAA champions in the sport of surfing were crowned at Hookipa Beach Park Saturday as the HHSAA Surfing State Championships concluded in head-high conditions.

Both team titles went back to the North Shore of Oahu, as Kahuku claimed the boys title, and Waialua took home the girls crown.

In the boys shortboard final, Seabury Hall sophomore Kahlil Pineres-Schooley built an early advantage en route to a combined 14.27 score to best Kapaa's Hayden Flores, who banked a 7.27 on his 4th wave to come up just short. Pineres-Schooley's second scoring ride, a 7.67, was the high mark in the heat.

Waialua's Skai Suitt, also a 10th grader, dominated the girls shortboard final, opening with 7.83 and closing out the heat with an 8.17 to win going away. Slone Jucker, who finished as the runner up with 10.17 combined total, was comboed, as were the other finalists. Suitt's 8.17 was bested only by an 8.33 she put down in the quarterfinal as the highest in the draw.

Suitt's teammate, Hanae Rose rode her final two waves to victory in the girls longboard final, besting Kamehameha's Joie Kaiu and Kamakau's Piilani Hong, who appeared to be locked into a battle for the top spot on the podium for much of the heat prior to Rose banking a 5.27 followed by a heat-high 8.17 on her final wave to post a 13.40 total. Unlike Kaiu and Hong, who both won their quarterfinal heats to advance to the final, Rose needed to battle through the repechage heat to punch her ticket into the final.

A hotly contested boys longboard final saw Hawaii Academy of Arts and Science's Alex Ranne hold off Kahuku's Micah Ah You and Maui Prep's Zolten Poulsen to stand atop the podium. Ranne reeled off a 6.33 and 7.93 on his first two rides, and that heat high 7.93 proved to be the difference, as Ah You could not best his high mark of 6.87 to take over the lead as the horn sounded.

Ranne's teammate Felix Barton, won the boys bodyboard title, opening his account with a heat high 9.67 and backing it up with 7.07 to win with a 16.74 score. Barton's performance was huge in the final, and he needed nearly even point given to hold off Waianae's Chavez Alapai-Torres, who posted a 14.50 to take home second. There were only two 9-plus scores awarded throughout the meet, and Barton had both of them.

The girls bodyboard final was won by Kalani's Kaipoi Koa with a two-wave total of 13.80, a 1.26 point difference between her and runner-up Chloe Cloward of Punahou. Cloward actually posted the heat high score with a 7.33, but Koa's 7.0 ride was backed up by 6.8, just enough to secure the win.

HAAS, placed fourth in the boys team standings on strength of just two competitors, both of which took home state titles. Boys team champion Kahuku had five entrants, second place Kapaa four and third place Maui Prep five.