16-year-old Gisborne surfer Stella Smith has secured New Zealand’s first ever Stand Up Paddle Surfing medal, winning bronze in the 2018 ISA World Stand Up Paddle and Paddleboard Championship.

The event is being held at Riyue Bay, Hainan Island, China with the finals contested in a fading 1.0m swell with offshore winds.

The Gisborne Girls' High School paddler finished behind two-time defending champion Shakira Westdrop (AUS) and America’s Candice Appleby with a 10.50 point heat total compared with Westdrop’s 14.37 points out of a possible 20.

“Yeah I was stoked to make the final but was still gutted with my result and thought I could've done better” said the young surfer.

“The final itself was a lot slower than the other heats and I didn't capitalise on the few sets when they came” she added of her finals performance. 

The final came after Smith earlier advanced directly to the final alongside another teenager in Yuuka Horikoshi (JPN) who placed fourth in the final.

“To get the opportunity to surf against the best again was such a blessing and I'm so lucky.  The Kiwi Team this year is very strong and I'm excited to watch the racers compete from tomorrow onwards” said Smith.

Smith’s performance in the surfing was complemented by eleventh place finishes for Taranaki’s Jamie Andrews and Gisborne’s Sean Hovell in the Men’s Division and a 17th place finish for Christchurch surfer Lucy Te Moananui.

The four surfers have pushed New Zealand into fourth place overall from the 26 teams competing at the event.  

.The New Zealand Team comprises eleven athletes and they are looking to defend their bronze medal they secured in 2017.  

A year for first time winners in girls team sports.

Of the six teams that caught our attention this year, four were first time winners of their respective NZSS tournaments, while two Waikato schools re-asserted past dominance.

This one is hard to choose – but which school’s achievement of the six below would be your favourite in 2018? Vote in the poll below. 

Alfriston College Softball – In March Alfriston College won their maiden NZSS Division 1 tournament and returned home to win the Auckland Secondary Schools title. Alfriston beat Wellington East Girls’ College 8-2 and then Sacred Heart College, Lower Hutt, 13-5 in the final to be crowned national champions. They beat One Tree Hill College 5-1 to win the Auckland title. After finishing fifth in 2015, runners-up in 2016 and fifth again last year, Alfriston College captain Jacqueline Clay was the tournament MVP and top batter. Taylor Chong-nee and Tessa Abraham were the top pitcher and catcher respectively. Aylssa Bailey, Jodie McLean-Rawiri and Lily Nielson both made the tournament team. 

Baradene College First XI Football - In the Auckland competition, Baradene came third in the first part of the season, and then in the Auckland Provincial Championship (APC) they reached the final against St Kent’s. In September at the NZSS Girls Premier Lotto tournament in Taupo, Baradene finally went one better and claimed a maiden National title. In the final Baradene defeated Hamilton Girls’ High School 3-1. Hannah Pilley won both the MVP and Golden Boot awards while year 10 Prue Catton and year 11 Petra Buyck punched well above their weight. Victory for Baradene over Hamilton was extra sweet as they had lost to them 3-2 on the opening afternoon of the tournament. Baradene was second in group play, but when they beat highly financed Palmerston North Girls’ High School 4-1 in the semi-final they proved impossible to stop.

Hamilton Girls’ High School First XV Rugby - Hamilton fell one game short of winning the National title in 2017 and unleashed their disappointment to full fury in 2018 winning all 16 games and scoring a staggering 962 points. At the National Top Four in September, Hamilton trounced Auckland Champions Aorere College 62-5 in the semi-final before thrashing Hurricanes Regional winners Manakura 42-5 in the decider. Hamilton, who also hold the Condor 7s crown, had three players Arorangi Tauranga, Jazmin Hotham and Montessa Tairakena selected for the New Zealand Under-18 sevens team that won a gold medal at the Youth Olympics in Argentina.

Iona College First XI Hockey - Iona College’s Federation Cup hockey tournament winning captain Arabella Sheild explained that teamwork was a key to the First XI winning its maiden title in September: “We have a well-balanced team and we get on well and know each other’s games. “We have three year 9s this year, no year 10s, four year 11s, three year 12s and five year 13s.” Iona College returned home from Whangarei to Havelock North after beating Hawke’s Bay rivals Napier Girls’ High School 4-0 in the final. Iona had beaten Christchurch Girls’ High School 2-1 in their semi-final. Prior to the tournament Iona had previously beaten Napier Girls’ 3-2 to complete an unbeaten Hawke’s Bay competition season. Year 12 striker Olivia Shannon was the tournament’s leading goal-scorer. Iona became the fifth winner in as many years to triumph. 

St Peter’s Cambridge Basketball - St Peter’s narrowly missed out on a hat-trick of National titles in 2017 when they were upstaged in the final by St Mary’s College, Wellington. In 2018, St Peter’s made no mistake against capital opposition, smashing Hutt Valley High School 92-51 in the decider with Tall Fern Charlisse Leger-Walker scoring 35 points. St. Peter’s won all eight games at Nationals by an average score of 83-36 and also successfully defended their Zone 2 crown thrashing Hamilton Girls’ High School 77-44 in the final. In September, Ella Bradley joined Leger-Walker in the New Zealand Under-18 team.

Westlake Girls’ High School Volleyball – A strong team bond aided the North Harbour school to winn their first senior NZSS volleyball title after the nucleus of the team had won the NISS Junior title at the end of 2016.  Individually, Tamara Otene was the tournament MVP and Zara Pocock also made the starting seven tournament team. Zara was also tournament MVP at the Auckland Championships that Westlake won earlier in March. Westlake beat top Bay of Plenty’s Otumoetai College in the NZSS final (25-23), (25-17), (25-21). They beat Wellington’s St Mary’s College in their quarter-final (25-15, 25-17, 25-18) and Auckland’s Aorere College (25-21, 25-18, 25-14) in their semi-final. St Mary’s was the team that knocked them out at the top 8 stage in 2017, while they had beaten Aorere 3-1 in the final of the Auckland Championships. 

Former Winners:
2017: St Cuthbert’s College First XI Hockey
2016: Southland Girls' HS First XV Rugby

​Erika Fairweather (Kavanagh College) – Born on 31 December 2003, the cut-off date for the Youth Olympic Games, making her the youngest of the 4,000 competitors at the Bruenos Aires games. Competing in the Women’s 100m, 400m and 800m freestyle events the 14-year old Dunedin swimmer set personal bests and national age group records in both the 100m freestyle and 800m freestyle and qualified as first reserve for the 200m final. Going into the games, she held 12 national age-group records, including the girls 14 years 200m and 400m freestyle short course records.

Amelia Kerr – Tawa College - In June the year 13 Tawa College leg-spinning all-rounder set a new world batting record in women's one-day cricket with her unbeaten 232 against Ireland, the third highest score in ODI cricket history. Facing 145 balls and hitting 31 fours, and two sixes. She then took  5-17 with the ball as Ireland were bowled out for 135, chasing 441 to win. At 17 years and 243 days, Kerr became the youngest double-centurion in the format across genders. Now a regular member of the Wellington Blaze and White Ferns teams, she went on to play an international tri-series against England South Africa and then against Australia, and this month is playing in the Twenty20 Women’s World Cup. 

​Morgan McDowall - Auckland Diocesan – The youngest member of the NZ Women’s Water Polo team that competed in the Intercontinental Championships in April. Then part of the NZ team that competed in the FINA Women’s World Cup in September that finished seventh.  Prior to that helped New Zealand to ninth place of 16 teams in the Women's Youth World Championship in Belgrade. In April, she was a key player for her school Dio completing the triple crown of secondary schools water polo by winning the Auckland, North Island and National titles in the same year. The NZSS win was the school’s first since 2008. Just year 11, the daughter of former All Black prop Steve McDowall, is recognised as a fast swimmer with a strong arm and a keen  eye for finding the back for the net.

Hannah O’Connor – Sacred Heart College, New Plymouth  In June, O’Connor won her fourth consecutive NZSS cross country title, after winning the senior title in 2017 and the junior title in both 2015 and 2016. In typical fashion, she shot to the lead early and she won the 4km race by 23 seconds. She followed that up with victory NI U18/U20 Cross Country Champs. Overseas, in April she finished fourth at the ISF World Secondary Schools Cross Country Championships in Paris. At the Youth Olympic Games she ran a PB 9.25.29 in finishing seventh in the 3000m and finished inside the top 20 in the 4km cross country two days 

Tamara Otene – Westlake Girls’ High School - The Year 12 Westlake GHS volleyball had a big year in both indoor and beach volleyball. In Summer Tournament Week she led her school to their maiden NZSS Volleyball title. Outside hitter Otene was Tournament MVP as Westlake won without a dropping a set all week. Auckland champions Westlake beat top Bay of Plenty’s Otumoetai College in the final (25-23), (25-17), (25-21). Libero Zara Pocock also made the tournament team. Prior to indoor nationals, Otene teamed up with Maya Dickson (New Plymouth GHS) to win the Oceania Beach Volleyball qualifiers to make the Youth Olympic Games team where the pair finished in a tied for 17th.

Zoi Sadowski-Synnott (Mount Aspiring College) - In February Zoi Sadowski-Synnott became New Zealand’s first Olympic Winter Games medallist in 26 years, and only second winter medallist in history after Annelise Coburger who won silver in the women's slalom at the 1992 Winter Olympics. The Wanaka sixteen year claimed a bronze medal in the women’s snowboard Big Air at PyeongChang 2018. Prior to winning bronze, she finished 13th in the women’s snowboard slopestyle. She was subsequently selected as New Zealand's flag bearer for the 2018 Winter Olympics closing ceremony, becoming the country’s youngest-ever flag bearer. Returning home, she won the Supreme Award at the Otago Sports Awards and later Snowboarder of the Year at the Snow Sports NZ awards. 

Former winners - Girls Other

2017: Phoenix Paniora (Trident High School) – volleyball
2016: Amelia Kerr (Tawa College) – cricket 
2015: N/A

Note: rugby, basketball,  netball, football and hockey (all still to come) are covered in separate articles in this series. 
 
The Champion of Champion series is not intended to be a definitive list of the ‘best’ athletes in each code, rather it celebrates many of the leading athletes and teams in each that College Sport Media has followed this year. Preference has gone to those individuals/teams that CSM has interviewed and profiled in 2018. Got a story? Email [email protected]

​A wide range of high achieving males in a variety of sports this year.
 
Our selections below and scroll down to vote in our poll. 

Connor Bell (Westlake Boys’ High School) - Without a shadow of doubt, Connor Bell is the best age group discus thrower in the world. At the Youth Olympics in Argentina, Bell claimed the gold medal by a whopping 18-metres throwing a personal best and Olympic Youth record of 66.84 metres. “To get out on the board reasonably early in the competition was an absolute joy,” Bell said after his convincing victory. Earlier in the year oppressively hot weather and a largely unsuitable diet wasn't enough to prevent Bell from winning the Micronesian Athletics Championships in Vanuatu. Bell threw 64.47m which at the time was his third best effort. Bell’s PB prior to the Youth Olympics was 65.63m. 

​Seamus Curtin (Aotea College) – The Aotea College Head Boy was named the Emerging Sportsman of the Year at the Hutt Valley Sports Awards in May and was a nomination for College Sport Wellington Sportsman of the Year in November. Earlier in the year he was third in the singles of the National Bowls Championships in Dunedin, as well as finishing runner-up in the fours and reaching the quarter-finals of the pairs. At the inter-centre championships in early April, he was unbeaten in the singles for Wellington, helping it win the team title. But it was his golden run at the Australian Open at the Broadbeach Bowling Club in June that really had heads turning. In a field of 800 competitors, Curtin advanced to the final four, defeating former world champion of champions singles winner Scott Thulborn, of South Australia and pushing Commonwealth Games silver medallist Ryan Bester (Canada) all the way in the semi-finals before going down 21-15. Bester went on to win the title. In June, Curtin went on a run of 31 wins in 33 singles games, including the Australian Open. Curtin is a member of the Black Jacks high performance programme.

​Louis Ferigo (Sacred Heart College) - An unbeaten season was at stake for the Sacred Heart College water polo team heading into the final quarter of the National Secondary Schools decider against Westlake Boys’ High School in April. Sacred Heart made a flying start by scoring the first three goals of the game, but Westlake pulled the deficit back to 8-7 with five minutes to play. Any thoughts of an upset were quickly dashed by Ferigo, who after scoring the first two goals of the game, added two more to ensure Sacred Heart became the Auckland, North Island and National champions in the same season. Ferigo was named tournament MVP and explained to College Sport Media why he believed he received that accolade by saying:  “I’ve always been smaller than most players so I’ve had to work really hard on defense. However my size allows me to move quickly around the pool, and a lot of the goals I score are counter goals because of my swimming.” Ferigo will return to school in 2019 for his fourth season in the premier team and has been a New Zealand age group representative. 

Jayden Ford (St Patrick’s College, Silverstream) - Jayden Ford’s golf clubs were sitting idle at Glasgow airport for two days - somehow lost in transit from London. Hardly ideal preparation for competing in the Junior Open Championship, an event featuring 142 players from 78 different countries. Ironically Ford shot a better round with borrowed clubs than he did with his own. “I shot one-under in round one and even par in round two,” Ford explained. “That was pretty funny I guess, but there was no way I was using other clubs for the whole tournament.” Entering the third and final round at Eden, St Andrew’s, Ford was eight shots from the lead. With the familiar feel of his own equipment he suddenly caught fire, shooting -4 in his last 12 holes to rapidly surge up the leaderboard and finish third -  the best result from any Kiwi at the event. Ford was only two strokes shy of eventual winner, South African Martin Vorster at the biannual U16 event. The most notable winner of the Junior Open is American Patrick Reed who won the US Masters this year. Former world number ones Rory McIlroy and Jordan Spieth were also competitors. Ford is already a member of the Wellington senior representative team.

Dylan McCullough (Saint Kentigern College) - Dylan McCullough claimed New Zealand’s first medal of the Youth Olympic Games, winning gold against a stacked triathlon field in Buenos Aires. The 18-year-old broke away to a 13-second lead in the run, after a tight-fought bike ride with Italy’s Alessio Crociani. McCullough managed to extend his advantage in the run finishing 26 seconds ahead of Alexandre Montez from Portugal. The individual triathlon featured 32 competitors, each from a different country. McCullough later teamed up with fellow Kiwi Brea Roderick (Mount Hutt College) to win a silver medal in a Mixed Relay event. McCullough’s gold adds to New Zealand’s strong history in triathlon at the Youth Olympic Games. Aaron Barclay won gold in Singapore in 2010, and Daniel Hoy placed second four years later at Nanjing. New Zealand athletes also combined with the Australian pair in the Mixed Relay Team Event to win silver in 2010 and bronze in 2014.

Nico Porteous (Te Aho o Te Kura Pounamu) - The New Zealand skier at 16 years and 91 days old became New Zealand's youngest ever Olympic medalist when he became the first male to claim a Winter Olympics medal winning a bronze medal in the halfpipe in PyeongChang in February.  Porteous started with an 82.50 before stunning everyone - nobody more than himself - with an incredible 94.80 on his second run. Porteous was briefly in a gold medal position, but was overtaken by two Americans. In September Porteous reinforced his quality by winning the FIS Junior Freeski Halfpipe World Championships  at his home mountain of Cardrona Alpine Resort. Again after a modest first run, Porteous came through with a winning run when it most counted.  Porteous was named Snow Sport New Zealand Freeskier of the Year.

​Corbin Strong (Southland Boys’ High School) - The Southland Secondary Schools Sportsman of the Year became a world champion in August when he was part of the New Zealand cycling team in Skoda Fruzio, who claimed the 4000m team pursuit title at the UCI junior track cycling world championships. Remarkably in January, Strong fractured his T1 vertebra in a nasty collision with a car. Despite at least two months recovery, Strong quickly bounced back to win the Timaru leg of the Calder Stewart Cycling Series and has preserved his position as one of New Zealand’s leading age group riders. Story was recently 10th overall in the Tour of Southland. 

Former winners - Boys Other
2017: Lewis Clareburt (Scots College) - Swimming
2016: Campbell Stewart (Palmerston North BHS) - Cycling
2015: Tarquinn Alatipi (St Patrick’s College, Silverstream) - Rugby League/Troy Johnson- (Hutt International BS) - Cricket
 
The Champion of Champion series is not intended to be a definitive list of the ‘best’ athletes in each code, rather it celebrates many of the leading athletes and teams in each that College Sport Media has followed this year. Preference has gone to those individuals/teams that CSM has interviewed and profiled in 2018. Got a story? Email [email protected]

Christ’s College Maadi Cup Rowing Eight - Christ’s won the Maadi Cup for the second time in three years despite only two 2017 crew members returning to school. Led by head prefect Max Goodwin in the sixth seat, Christ’s waited patiently, sitting behind North Island champions Hamilton Boys’ High School at the halfway mark before making their move and surging home. Christ’s had lost the South Island final to Christchurch Boys’ High School who were third at Maadi. The winning crew was: Alex Todhunter (stroke), Max Goodwin, Sam Darry, Jack Elvy, Zac Cran, Will Chaffey, Jamie Batchelor, Sean Swanson + Guy Flynn (cox). Christ’s won the Canterbury secondary school team of the year at the  Zonta Awards.

Mount Albert Grammar School Softball – The MAGS softballers won their sixth straight NZSS Division 1 title. MAGS met Hastings Boys’ High School in the final in Lower Hutt in a repeat of last year’s decider. After a rain-interrupted penultimate day, MAGS won the final 3-0. Other notable results were beating both Rongotai College and Marlborough BC 8-1. In four of their round-robin games, the mercy rule was invoked because MAGS was so far in front. Five players from MAGS made the tournament team, these being: Isaac Munro, Taine Slaughter, Ryan Earley, Brock Evans and Floyd Nola, who was also the tournament MVP. MAGS returned home from nationals to beat Auckland Grammar School 10-0 in the Auckland Championship final. Several players also finished the summer as Auckland U17 and U19 club champions with Ramblers. 

Rosmini College Premier Basketball - To suggest Rosmini was stacked in 2018 is an understatement. The team featured 10 New Zealand representatives, including guard Kruz Perrott-Hunt who was selected for the Tall Blacks. Unsurprisingly Rosmini claimed a trifecta of major trophies winning the Auckland Premiership, Zone I championship and National crown, despite narrowly dropping their first game in that tourney to Mount Albert Grammar School. Rosmini won 31 out of 33 games in 2018 and crushed St Pats Town 114-62 in the National final.

​Saint Kentigern College First XI Hockey -  From India Shield winners to Rankin Cup champions, the rise of St Kent’s hockey is complete. Coached by New Zealand hockey legend Ramesh Patel, St Kent’s turned into the dominant  First XI in the nation this season. In April at the St Paul's’ Collegiate ANZAC Invitational tournament featuring 14 of the country's leading schools, St Kent’s was unbeaten in five games outscoring opponents 17-2. In the Auckland Super City competition St Kent’s dethroned Westlake Boys’ High School as title holders and in the round-robin went through unbeaten, scoring 28 goals and only conceding once in seven games. At the Rankin Cup, St Kent’s won seven matches on the trot, twice defeating 2017 winners Christ’s College, including a 1-0 triumph in the final.

​Sacred Heart College First XI Football - For the first time in four years, Sacred Heart surrendered the Auckland Premiership to Saint Kentigern College, but bounced back in September to be crowned National Champions for the fourth time in eight seasons, reversing their runners-up finish in 2017. Sacred Heart was forced into penalties in the semi-final against St Pat's Town, but three saves from Year 11 goalkeeper Declan Viljoen earned Sacred a place in the final where they showed their big game temperament crushing Mount Albert Grammar School (MAGS) 3-0. The goals scored by Max Ongley, Joel Clissold and Riwai Stanton all came in the first-half. Sacred Heart was captained by Kingsley Sinclair who represented New Zealand at the Under-17 FIFA World Cup last year and was in the New Zealand Under-20 squad who won OFC U-19 Championship in Tahiti in August. Sacred Heart have matched MAGS effort of four wins in eight years. MAGS won four times between 2001 and 2008.  

​St Peter’s College, Auckland First XV Rugby - St Peter’s finished the round robin of the 1A Auckland competition with an 8-3 record, sneaking into fourth position, but losing to the top two teams St Kentigern College and King’s College by more than 20 points. In the finals St Peter’s stunned those sides by a single point before pipping Westlake Boys’ High School 19-17 in the Blues Regional final to earn a place at the National Top Four. In the semi-final, St Peter’s remarkably eliminated Super 8 championships Hamilton Boys’ High School 8-7 before reversing a 21-0 deficit to topple Napier Boys’ High School 31-28 in the final. St Peter’s won 17 out of 20 games overall and were led in an inspiring fashion by Niko Jones.

Tauranga Boys' College Kayaking - In March the 23-strong Tauranga Boys’ team won the top Schools Kayaking trophy for a record 19th time at the Nationals in Wanaka. Tauranga won the U14, U16 and U18 3-boat K1 events in a dominant display which eventually earned nine selections in the New Zealand Development Squad. The boys selected were: Sean Washer, Hugh Canham, Taylor Harris, Lachie Aitken, Dane O’Reilly, Jared Williams, Ben Pilbrow, Ryan Keading and Finn Anderson. Anderson would kick onto to win a silver medal in the C1 category at the Youth Olympics in Argentina in October. Oliver Puchner, who also attended the Youth Olympics, was selected alongside Damian Torwick and Charlie Bell for the World U23 championships in Italy.

Westlake Boys’ High School Sailing Team - Year 9 and 11 students Blake McGlashan and Seb Menzies, teamed up to win the 420 Sailing World Championships in Newport, USA. Sailing against 73 crews, many of whom were adults, Menzies (13) and McGlashan (15) cleaned up the open division beating Spanish pair Elias Leonard Aretz Queck and Pablo Garcia Cranfield by 48 points. The Kiwis sailed consistently all week, winning five of their 12 races, including two in gold fleet, and only once finished outside the top six. Menzies and McGlashan have made rapid progress. They were 41st - and fifth of the New Zealand teams - at the 2017 world championships in Perth. 

Previous Winners:
2017: Hamilton Boys’ High School First XI Football
2016: Mount Albert Grammar School First XV Rugby

The New Zealand Junior Surfing Team has finished twelfth at the VISSLA ISA World Junior Championship completed early this week in California, USA.

The New Zealand Team performance was highlighted by top performers in the Under 18s Division and Under 16 Girls Division with Caleb Cutmore (Ham) finishing 13th overall in the Under 18 Boys Division.

Gisborne’s Saffi Vette finished 16th overall in the Under 18 Girls Division and Brie Bennett (Rag) finished 19th in the Under 16 Girls Division.

Cutmore advanced through seven rounds of the event eliminating teammate Conor Mclennan (Chch) in the process, McLennan finishing 17th overall.  

“I was stoked with how I ended up going throughout the comp” said Cutmore.

“I was a bit gutted when I got the double interference in the third round but it turned out to be a positive as I started to gain momentum throughout the repechage rounds. With each round I progressed through, I felt less pressure as I had nothing to lose, I was surfing against some big names and I was the underdog. I was stoked with some of the waves I got and heats that I surfed but I feel as though I still have a lot more to give and I want to come back stronger next time” added Cutmore who is eligible for the event again in 2019.

Cutmore’s last heat was a high scoring affair with the Hamilton surfer posting a 13.10 point heat total yet finishing third to surfers from Spain and Peru.

“I started off my last heat with a 7 and then backed it up with a 6. I was still looking for a steeper wave where I could start to go more top to bottom. There weren’t many waves coming through and I couldn’t find what I was looking for. Two other surfers in the heat dropped 7’s and 8’s so I was left chasing a 7.8 and I couldn’t find it. I was still glad I put up a good fight though and I learnt heaps surfing against those top guys.”

Mclennan had remained in the main round of the event up until Round 4 before suffering back to back defeats in the main round and repechage round.

Shane Kraus (Piha) finished the event in 49th overall after exiting in the Repechage Round 3.

Gisborne’s Saffi Vette placed 16th overall in the Under 18 Girls Division as the highest placed female Kiwi.  Surfing in the division for the first time, Vette found herself taking in a lot of learnings as she pushed through some tight rounds to advance her cause.

“I felt like my overall performance was good but I needed to get on the best waves and I didn’t really give myself the chance to show the judges my best surfing. But then again I learnt so much from being in high pressure situations and I have learnt a lot from my losses.”

“Hopefully something will click soon and I can come back better next year” added the young surfer who returns to New Zealand via Australia where she is competing in the final WSL World Qualifying Series event of the year this week.

Vette failed to fire a shot in her final heat of the event finishing in fourth with a 7.60 point heat total, despite that, only requiring a modest 5.57 point ride to advance.

“Oh my last heat I had a total shocker! I was pretty disappointed with the way I surfed and was lucky to even make it through the heat before. So that was not the way I wanted to exit but I have seen all the mistakes I made wave selection and priority errors so hopefully I can put that into practice so I can make them my strengths in future” said Vette. 

Tiana – Breeze de Mooij (Mnt) and Kea Smith (Mnt) finished 31st and 49threspectively in the Under 18 Girls Division.

Raglan’s Brie Bennett placed 19th overall in the Under 16 Girls Division and along with Ariana Shewry (Tara), advanced through multiple rounds during their successful campaigns.

“I’m happy with my results as well as the event giving me more confidence for events back in New Zealand and a taste for the standard for overseas comps” said Bennett.

“It was so fun surfing as a team and gaining knowledge amongst the best in the world, it was really cool and it made me feel good when I came in from a win or loss to still get great support and encouragement from the New Zealand Team.”

Shewry finished the event in 22nd overall finishing fourth in her Repechage Round 5 heat.  Both her and Bennett have the fortune of being eligible for the same division in 2019.

Christchurch surfer Estella Hungerford finished the event in 43rd overall.

Our surfers in the Under 16 Boys Division suffered a baptism of fire all being eliminated in the first round of the main event before bowing out early in the repechage rounds.  Christchurch surfer Myka Black was the highest placed in 57th overall with Tom Robinson (Whangarei) and Kora Cooper (Rag) finishing in 65th overall.

The Japanese Surfing Team went on to win the event, a first for Japan to go alongside their win at the World Surfing Games earlier in the year.  Japan beat USA, Australia and Hawaii who rounded out the top four.

The championship is the largest junior surfing event in the world playing host to over 350 surfers from 44 nations.  2018 marks the first year that all divisions are gender equal at the event with three surfers in each of the four divisions contested. 

Results from the 2018 VISSLA ISA World Junior Surfing Championship held at Huntington Beach, California, USA from the 27th October – 4th November are as follows:

Team Rankings
1 Japan 7503
2 USA 7371
3 Australia 5814
4 Hawaii 5798
5 France 4898
6 Spain 4471
7 Brazil 4380
8 South Africa 4310
9 Germany 4186
10 Portugal 4108
11 Peru 3923
12 New Zealand 3628

Under 18 Boys Division
Caleb Cutmore (Hamilton) – 13th
Conor McLennan (Christchurch) – 17th
Shane Kraus (Piha) – 49th

Under 18 Girls Division
Saffi Vette (Gisborne) – 16th
Tiana – Breeze de Mooij (Mount Maunganui) – 31st
Kea Smith (Mount Maunganui) – 49th

Under 16 Boys Division
Myka Black (Christchurch) – 57th
Kora Cooper (Raglan) – 65th
Tom Robinson (Whangarei) – 65th

Under 16 Girls Division
Brie Bennett (Raglan) – 19th
Ariana Shewry (Oakura) – 22nd
Estella Hungerford (Christchurch) – 43rd