A chance to surf one of New Zealand’s premier surf locations fired up Aotearoa’s best school aged surfers today (Wednesday 10th October) with blistering performances throughout the day at Stent Road, Taranaki.
Defending Champions Canterbury surged to the overall points lead after three days of competition and with ten surfers remaining in the event. Their lead over Bay of Plenty is slim at best, Bay of Plenty having nine surfers remaining and 205 points behind.
The National Scholastic Surfing Championships were held in pumping 1.5m swell and light winds all day which kept everyone entertained.
Canterbury’s Jack Tyro is one of several title contenders in their team this year and he has his sights set on the title as well as his team defending the overall title.
“I want to take out the event obviously, I can’t wait to surf against everyone in the semifinals, we all know each other well, so it should be fun, and yeah, Canterbury is doing well, and I think we can defend our title” said Tyro. With a 14.40 point heat total today, Tyro is looking extremely comfortable in the conditions at Stent Road as he heads into the semifinals tomorrow.
Tyro was joined by team mates Rakiatea Tau (Chch), Tyler Perry (Kaik) and Lachlan Noakes (chch) in advancing to the semifinals of their respective divisions.
Auckland dropped two places to fourth overall today after a couple of close heats that didn’t go their way. They pulled their afternoon back late in the day with a comfortable win by Sam Frazerhurst. Earlier in the day it was one of their senior team members in Liv Haysom (Piha) that led from the front in the Under 18 Girls Division advancing through to the semifinals.
Haysom is surfing in her fourth scholastic event and opened up her campaign with a 12.75 point heat total.
“I’m stoked to be surfing in a comp with waves like this, it is a dream come true to surf Stent with three people out” commented Haysom.
“It is so good to be part of this event. It is cool to be the older person in the team and the type of person who I always looked up to when I started four years ago, I want to be a good role model for our younger Auckland team members this week” added Haysom who has a lay day on Thursday.
Despite sitting in ninth overall, Hawkes Bay had some outstanding successes today. Evan Broad set the Under 18 Boys Division alight with his underdog performance during the morning heats. Broad matched the top seeds of the event with his 12.50 point showing and he was an extremely happy surfer exiting the water. “It’s cooking, perfect conditions. I really like the points and priority helps you to sit at the top of the point and pick the right waves he said of his progression to the semifinals. “This is the furthest I have ever made it in an event and to do it at the Scholastic Champs is amazing” he added. Broad was joined by teammate Isla Prins who advanced to the semifinals as well.
Waikato advanced two of their surfers today with Tana Clapham and Luke Dymond advancing to the final day of the event in the Under 18 boys Division.
Coromandel made a late charge into fifth on the overall standings thanks to their youngest team members Beau Fitzgibbons (Waihi) and Harrison Biddle (WGM) moving into the semifinals of the Under 14 Boys Division along with Ezekiel Wyper (Tai) in the Under 16 Boys Division.
Northland saw success from their team leader Te Kauwhata Kauwhata advancing to the semifinals of the Under 18 Boys Division as did Cohen Graham in the Under 14 Boys Division and Talia Da Silva in the Under 16 Girls Division.
Day four (Thursday 13th October) will see the schedule revert back to a number of younger divisions being contested along with the longboard divisions. The swell is expected to decrease overnight but remain a fun size with light winds for the penultimate day.
The final day of the event is being streamed on the Whakaata Maori YouTube channel. Live scoring, results and daily schedules can be viewed via www.liveheats.com/55817.
Current team standings after three of five days at the 2022 National Scholastic Surfing Championships being held at Taranaki from the 10-15 October.
1, Canterbury, 10195
2, Bay of Plenty, 9990
3, Northland, 9125
4, Auckland, 9070
5, Coromandel, 8860
6, Taranaki, 8510
7, Gisborne, 7660
8, Otago, 7545
9, Hawkes Bay, 7145
10, Waikato, 6560
11, West Coast, 1000
The National Scholastic Surfing Championships has been held since 1989. The event, which has unearthed two generations of top Kiwi talent, takes place along the Taranaki coastline from 10 – 14 October.
The event comprises eight age group divisions for males and females across both shortboard and longboard disciplines. Twelve regional teams from throughout the country contest the event with eleven teams in attendance in 2022 vying for both individual titles as well as the overall team title. Canterbury is the defending champion at the event having won the event in home waters in 2020.
Over 110 surfers are participating at the event in 2022 after having qualified to represent their twelve person teams via a series of regional events held during winter months.
The 2022 National Scholastic Surfing Championships is sanctioned by Surfing New Zealand, Secondary School Sport NZ. The event is made possible with the support of Pub Charity. The event is supported by the New Zealand Sports Collective, Whakaata Maori, Caltex, Bayleys, Apollo Projects, Pure Athletic and NZ Carbon Farming.
For more information on the National Scholastic Surfing Championships, please contact Ben Kennings on 021 2278732 or email benkennings@surfingnz.co.nz. Follow @surfingnz across Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for all the action from the event.
Imagery
High resolution images from the event will be available to media upon request.
Surfing New Zealand is proudly partnered by:
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