KAILUA-KONA — The weather was perfect and the waves were ideal, as high school surfers from all over the Big Island descended on the Banyans surfing area in Kona for the first-ever BIIF surfing championships.
The condo owners on either side of the break are used to the occasional surfing contest, but they were likely surprised by the size of the crowd for high school surfing. With close to 80 athletes participating in the event, the lawn in front of the Kona Bali Kai condo was peppered with pop-up tents featuring the logos of local high schools.
The boys bodyboarders, with over 30 athletes, were the first competitors to hit the water not too long after sunrise. The waves came in bunches throughout the day, with several good waves in a row, followed by some lulls that dragged too long for some of the competitors who were looking for one more good scoring wave to advance.
The boys shortboard division saw over twenty athletes competing for the top spot on the podium. The heats were competitive with wave selection and set frequency often determining who would advance. In the end Connections’ Keano Crawford caught his highest scoring wave of 5.43 late in the final heat to capture first place. Kealakehe’s Matthias Ronning took second, with Hilo High’s Sandler Everly claiming third.
The conditions of the day were a bit more favorable for the longboarders — in the boys division the waves really showed up for the finals. HAAS’s Alex Ranne, the rankings leader in boys longboard, claimed the top spot with a 13.43 and a 2.1 point lead over Connections’ Crawford who captured second. Hilo High’s Everly grabbed another third-place finish.
While the surfing gods were kind to the boys in the longboard division, they were much less kind to the bodyboarders who struggled to find high-scoring waves. There was a flurry of action as the final wound down with Kamehameha-91直播’s Analu Yockman taking home first place with a score of 13.77. Masau Lee of Ka Umeke Ka’eo grabbed the second, with Hilo High’s Isaiah Ishigo taking third.
The girls had to wait awhile to get their first opportunities to surf, but when they did, some of the top surfers from the two previous contests proved that their earlier performances were no fluke.
In the girls bodyboard division, Waiakea’s Penelope Ruth-Conley held a commanding lead before an interference call cost her 3.25 points — luckily the mistake did not affect the standings and she held on to claim first place. Kealakehe’s Ella Koenigs came in second with Aubrie Graham of Kea‘au placing third.
While the waves showed up big time for the boys longboard final, they took an extended break during the girls final — leading to a lot of sitting in the lineup and hoping for sets to roll through. When the final horn sounded, it was HAAS’s Amaya Ranne claiming gold and the BIIF surfing hat trick having won all three longboard contests on the season. Kealakehe’s Kira Werner was second with Waiakea’s Ruth-Conley finishing third.
Amaya had this to say about the win: “It’s so cool that surfing is a high school sport, and to win all three contests and get the W at BIIF’s is a really special feeling.”
The girls shortboard final closed out the contest with the ocean looking more like a lake at times. Despite the challenges, Kealakehe’s Sadie Fair, who had placed second and third in the previous contests, finally broke through for the first-place finish. Kamehameha 91直播’s Hereiti Delenia took second with Sadie’s teammate — Jude Groak — in third.
With the contest in the books and the individual champions decided, the officials consulted the Live Heats scoring system to determine which schools would win the team titles and who would make the “all-star” team that would compete at the HHSAA state championships May 1-2 on Maui.
With the team points and individual rankings calculated, contest director Lisa Dorian announced that the Kealakehe High girls team and the Hilo High boys team had captured the BIIF championships.
Kealakehe coach, Lindsay Resetnikov, talked about the experience.
“To be a part of putting this together, figuring out how to do it, it’s been scary but exciting,” she told the paper. “The rules were changing by the day, and we were trying to figure out how to do it fairly so the best competitors went to states.
“But I think we figured it out, and it’s amazing.”
The following athletes qualified to surf in the state championships and are listed in their rankings order: Boys shortboard — Everly, Crawford, Toby Aspirin, Ronning, Skyler Premble, Eden Ballauer and Lee; girls shortboard — Fair, Groak, Rainbow Ramsey Summers, Lily Michaels and Delenia; boys longboard — Alex Ranne, Crawford, Everly, Makanikai Ortiz and Aspirin; girls longboard — Amaya Ranne, Koenigs, Ruth-Conely and Werner; boys bodyboard — Ishigo, Lee, and Felix Barton; girls bodyboard: Koenigs and Ruth-Conley.
With the champions and states team announced, Dorian, who did a fantastic job organizing the three BIIF surfing contests during the inaugural season, brought the seniors up to be honored. Lisa and her husband — big wave surfing legend and Konawaena High grad Shane Dorian — created a scholarship fund for the athletes with help from the Chee Pono Foundation, and awarded five surfers with $500 scholarships to help them pursue their educational goals.
The five seniors who were nominated by their coaches and received scholarships were Everly, Felix Barton, Eden Ballauer, Aspirin and Ishigo.
The first-ever BIIF surfing season was historical in more ways than one, with administrators, coaches, athletes, support staff and Big Island surfing fans all coming together to create something special that will only improve with time and experience.
Follow @biif_surf on instagram and check out hhsaa.org to follow your Big Island high school surfers as they compete at the HHSAA state championships this weekend on Maui.
