Aloha Cup victory? Check. Pair of individual gold medals? Check. Overall team gold medal? Check. The Ambassadors of Aloha brought their fun-loving spirit to the rest of the world, but preserved plenty of joy for themselves as Team Hawaii came
Aloha Cup victory? Check. Pair of individual gold medals? Check. Overall team gold medal? Check. The Ambassadors of Aloha brought their fun-loving spirit to the rest of the world, but preserved plenty of joy for themselves as Team Hawaii came away with the gold at the International Surfing Association’s World Junior Surfing Championship, Sunday in Salinas, Ecuador.
No star shone brighter than that of Tatiana Weston-Webb, who was the only Kauai surfer for this year’s Team Hawaii crew. Tati won her second straight ISA Girls Under 18 gold medal on Sunday, finishing the event in style with the most dominant heat of the event. She blistered the other finalists with an 18.16 two-wave total, which included an almost-perfect 9.83 score.
Tati had to sweat out an extra heat on her way to the gold, finishing third in the final qualifying heat and heading to the repechage bracket for a shot at the final. She and France’s Kim Veteau survived that elimination heat and advanced to the medal round, eliminating Hawaii’s Bailey Nagy in the process. Nagy took fifth place in the Under 18 division, just off the podium. Veteau went on to win the silver medal. American Tia Blanco won bronze and Costa Rica’s Leilani McGonagle won copper.
The back-to-back individual golds for Tati and the team title were in addition to Hawaii’s Aloha Cup victory on Saturday. The Aloha Cup is a separate contest spread over two days where teams compete tag-team style and accumulate points. Weston-Webb had the highest three-wave score of any finalist, including the boys, helping secure the Cup for its rightful owners.
Team Hawaii’s dominant week also included a second straight gold medal for Oahu’s Mahina Maeda in the Girls Under 16 division. Maeda survived a close, relatively low-scoring, final heat but her 10.90 two-wave total was enough to earn her a ride up the beach on her teammates’ shoulders. Hawaii’s Dax McGill, who won the Under 18 gold medal two years ago at the age of 14, finished eighth overall in the Girls Under 16 division this time around.
Leilani McGonagle won silver, Aussie Laura Poncini captured bronze and American Maddie Peterson won copper.
Maui’s Imaikalani Devault reached the final for the Boys Under 18 division, taking home the copper medal in fourth place. Imai almost reached the championship heat unscathed, but came up with a third place in the final qualifying round and had to compete in one repechage heat, which he won. Seth Moniz took eighth place in the Under 18 division for Team Hawaii, while brother Josh, who won last year’s gold medal, was a surprising early elimination. Josh finished in Equal 43rd place. Ulu Napeahi made it one round further, but finished Equal 31st.
The Boys Under 18 title was won by Brazil’s Luan Wood, with Brazil’s Elivelton Santos in second and Peru’s Lucca Messina in third.
Honolulu’s Noa Mizuno came up just shy of a medal in the Boys Under 16 division, receiving fifth place and missing out on the final heat by just one tenth of a point. He had a two-wave total of 9.57 in the final repechage heat, but Australia’s Joe Van Dijk held on to second place with a 9.67. Barron Mamiya was Hawaii’s next-highest finisher in Equal 11th. Cody Young’s performance was good for an Equal 13th finish and Kaulana Apo took home Equal 19th.
France’s Leo-Paul Etienne grabbed the Under 16 gold, followed by Van Dijk claiming silver and Americans Nolan Rapoza and Griffin Colapinto winning bronze and copper, respectively.
The combined finishes gave Team Hawaii a point total of 21,168 and its second gold in three years after last year’s silver finish in Nicaragua. France captured this year’s team silver medal, with Australia winning bronze and USA winning copper.
Some of the youngsters provided the depth necessary for Team Hawaii to gain the gold, but it was the most established member of the team that made it a week to remember in Ecuador. From being selected to pour the ceremonial sand at the opening ceremony to being carried up the beach and onto the winner’s podium Sunday, Tati left her mark at her final ISA Junior Championship.
