The Ambassadors of Aloha are returning home as Silver Surfers after their impressive haul at the World Junior Surfing Championship. Three individual gold medals and a team silver was the final tally for Team Hawaii at the 2013 International Surfing
The Ambassadors of Aloha are returning home as Silver Surfers after their impressive haul at the World Junior Surfing Championship.
Three individual gold medals and a team silver was the final tally for Team Hawaii at the 2013 International Surfing Association junior event held at Jiquiliste Beach in Nicaragua. One of those individual golds belongs to Tatiana Weston-Webb, who brings the hardware back to Kauai after topping the Girls Under 18 division.
Tati flawlessly navigated the wave throughout the event, netting three of the four highest-scoring waves and two of the four best heat totals, including a 17.17 to send her into the final. With the gold in her sights, she almost combo’d her opponents in the final heat, scoring on an early 7.50 ride and adding an 8.00 on her final wave. Australia’s Stephanie Single (12.10) won silver, USA’s Nikki Veisins (11.07) took bronze and Chelsea Tuach of Barbados (9.17) was awarded copper. Of her six heats during the week, Tati won five and had one second place.
Oahu’s Mahina Maeda absolutely dominated the Girls Under 16 final heat, grabbing the gold with both hands and not allowing anyone else a chance to rip it away. She managed to score the event’s best two waves when in mattered most, first with a 9.73 and then a 9.43 on her next ride for a monster total of 19.16. Mahina and teammate Dax McGill — last year’s Girls Under 18 gold medalist — were fantastic all week. Mahina reached the Under 16 final heat without having to enter the Repercharge bracket and Dax had to survive just one Repercharge heat before the final. Dax (10.57) finished up with the bronze, while Tahiti’s Karelle Poppke (13.27) claimed silver and USA’s Frankie Harrer (4.86) won copper.
The championship day was capped off with the prestigious Boys Under 18 final, which saw Oahu’s Josh Moniz pull out a narrow win for Team Hawaii’s third individual gold. Josh had a strong start, scoring a 7.00 on his opening wave and adding a 7.43 on his second ride for a 14.43 mark. He then watched Australia’s Soli Bailey charge nine waves in an attempt to overtake his score, but Soli could not improve upon a 6.40 after an opening 8.00, leaving him with a 14.40 total and the silver medal. France’s Andy Criere (10.84) finished with the bronze and Australia’s Luke Hynd (5.70) won copper.
Molokai’s Kaoli Kahokuloa finished in eighth place in the Boys Under 18 division. Kauai’s Koa Smith finished in equal ninth place and Oahu’s Kain Daly finished equal 13th in the 96-surfer field.
Of the 97 surfers in the Boys Under 16 division, all four Team Hawaii members showed well with Imaikalani Devault and Seth Moniz tying for ninth place and Elijah Gates and Kaulana Apo each finishing equal 15th. The Boys Under 16 was won by Australia’s Jacob Wilcox, followed by Italy’s Leonardo Fioravanti, USA’s Jake Marshall and Japan’s Reo Inaba.
Despite an early trip to the Repercharge bracket, Oahu’s Bailey Nagy battled back and finished the Girls Under 18 division in eighth place overall.
It was a duel between Hawaii and Australia for the team gold medal, but the Aussies had just enough points across the board to overcome the three Hawaii championships. Australia totaled 24,256 points to best the Hawaii total of 23,828. USA (18,870) came away with the team bronze, narrowly edging France (18,212), who won the copper.
Japan (16,322), South Africa (15,652), Peru (15,316), Brazil (15,300), New Zealand (12,532) and Portugal (12,310) rounded out the top 10. Host Nicaragua finished 20th among the 30 participating nations.
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