The penultimate day of the 2018 National Scholastic Surfing Championships presented by Pub Charity has ended with the Bay of Plenty Team in familiar territory at the top of the team points table.
The defending champion team has nine of twelve surfers remaining in the event and they hold a slim lead over Canterbury who sit in second place, also with nine surfers remaining.
Wednesday kicked off with pumping waves at Makorori Beach, Gisborne, the surf peaking mid-morning as expected with a solid 1.5m swell and strong offshore winds which persisted all day.
The quarterfinals of the Under 16 Boys Division rounded out the day with some excellent surfing across the four heats contested and honours being shared across the board. Taranaki, Gisborne, Northland and Canterbury all secured valuable wins with surfers advancing through to the semifinals but it as Bay of Plenty that hung onto the overall lead via Jack Lee (Whaka) and Jacob Saunders (Mnt) who finished second in their respective heats.
Canterbury surfer Myka Black top scored for the round with 15.03 points out of a possible 20. That followed his phenomenal performance earlier in the day that netted him a colossal 18.83 point heat total in Round 2.
The 15-year-old surfer will need to produce two more similar performances on the final day to help his team close the 385 point gap between themselves and the Bay of Plenty.
The Under 14 Boys Division saw some classic battles go down in the water, highlighted by a last minute win from local surfer Finn Vette who went from third to first with an 8.93 point ride courtesy of three big backhand turns seemingly under immense pressure.
“I don’t know, I just didn’t worry, I know the break well and I knew there was a wave coming and I had to scramble and then pulled off a couple of good turns and got the score” said a nonchalant Vette who had only one focus for the day, that being his heat.
“To be honest I haven’t checked the forecast for tomorrow but I hope it is good. Our team has done well so far with the boys doing good today and the girls did alright yesterday, we want to carry on tomorrow so I hope the surf is good.”
Vette advance alongside Te Kauwhata Kauwhata who has helped keep Northland alive in the top five teams. He was joined by Tom Norton who advanced in the Under 18 Boys Division and Tom Robinson who advanced in the Under 16 Boys Division for a total of four surfers remaining in the event.
The Under 18 Boys Division started the day off with some big performances from the likes of number one and two seeds Caleb Cutmore (Ham) and Conor Mclennan (Chch) who both drew clean lines in the long running right-handers.
The Coromandel Team had a good morning with three of their five surfers in the Under 18 Boys Division advancing. Waihi surfer Thomas Carter top scored for the round posting 13.83 points out of 20 to advance through to the quarterfinals. He was joined by teammates Jay Piper – Healion (Whitianga) and Ayrton Yarrell (Waihi Bch) in advancing.
The Under 18 Boys Division will start the final day of action with the quarterfinals tomorrow (Thursday).
Conditions are expected to be good for the final day with an easing swell and offshore winds potentially turning onshore in the afternoon. With the forecasted storm carving its way across the country on Friday afternoon, a decision has been made to complete the event on Thursday.
Please see below for results from day three of the 2018 National Scholastic Surfing Championships held at Red Bus, Makorori, Gisborne today (Wednesday 10th October).
Team Points
1, Bay of Plenty, 10225
2, Canterbury, 9840
3, Gisborne, 8970
4, Auckland, 8460
5, Northland, 7943
6, Waikato, 7110
7, Coromandel, 6340
8, Tasman, 5945
9, Wellington, 5265
10, Taranaki, 5160
11, Hawkes Bay, 1000
Under 18 Boys Division Round 2
Heat 1
Caleb Cutmore (Ham), 10.77, 1, Raul Ventura (Nel), 3.54, 2, Jack Healy (Wgtn), 3.5, 3, Tanner Hayes (Kati), 1.7, 4
Heat 2
Max Brunker (Whngrei), 12.44, 1, Ayrton Yarrell (Waihi Bch), 11.67, 2, Lucca Lind (Tara), 6.34, 3, Fergus Duncan (Wgtn), 0, 4
Heat 3
Luke Griffin (Mnt), 12.87, 1, William Van der Beek (Mnt), 10.77, 2, Sam Dingle (Tara), 7.17, 3, Oliver Charlesworth (Auck), 5.73, 4
Heat 4
Thomas Carter (Waihi Bch), 13.83, 1, Riley Gibson (Chch), 8.57, 2, Tom Norton (Waipu), 7.6, 3, Jonah Christians (Wgtn), 4.3, 4
Heat 5
Jay Piper – Healion (Whiti), 12.67, 1, Alex O’Dwyer (Whaka), 10.56, 2, Tyler Carrington (Wgtn), 7.67, 3, Euan Mclaren (Wgtn), 1.74, 4
Heat 6
Conor McLennan (Chch), 12.43, 1, Te Haukopa Ehau – Taumaunu (Gis), 8.6, 2, Cameron Hankins (Waihi Bch), 7.83, 3, Kade Scheib (Auck), 6.67, 4
Under 16 Boys Division Round 2
Heat 1
Tom Butland (Tara), 15.84, 1, Manawa Ruru (Gis), 11, 2, Sam Baxter (WGM), 1.17, 3, DJ Thompson (Tas), 1, 4
Heat 2
Jack Lee (Whaka), 16.27, 1, Noah Collier (Gis), 8.96, 2, Flynn Healy (Wgtn), 8.67, 3, Finn Murphy (Gis), 5.93, 4
Heat 3
Jack Hinton (Mnt), 11.43, 1, Taylor O’Leary (Mur), 8.44, 2, Josh Sheridan (Tas), 6.03, 3, Alan Paterson (Tas), 3.57, 4
Heat 4
Kora Cooper (Rag), 10.5, 1, Billy Gilbert (Nrthlnd), 8.6, 2, Sam Charlesworth (Auck), 8.16, 3
Heat 5
Myka Black (Chch), 18.83, 1, Ethan Wray (Tara), 8.93, 2, Jacob Fitzgerald (Tas), 7.9, 3
Heat 6
Finn Johnson (Gis), 11.76, 1, Neko Tohiariki (Chch), 10.93, 2, Oscar Harper (Nrthlnd), 9.7, 3, Cade O’Dea (WC), 5.23, 4
Heat 7
Tom Robinson (Whngrei), 15.66, 1, Jacob Buckle (Whngrei), 10.07, 2, Hunter Petersen (Tara), 9.06, 3, Ben Smith (Coro), 9.04, 4
Heat 8
Jacob Saunders (TGA), 13.17, 1, Josef Jungwirth (Rag), 10.03, 2, Jack Luke (Tara), 3.6, 4, Josh Watson (Wai), 4.1, 3
Under 16 Boys Division Quarterfinals
Heat 1
Tom Butland (Tara), 14.04, 1, Jack Lee (Whaka), 13.97, 2, Taylor O’Leary (Mur), 11.57, 3, Billy Gilbert (Nrthlnd), 6.67, 4
Heat 2
Manawa Ruru (Gis), 13.27, 1, Kora Cooper (Rag), 12, 2, Jack Hinton (Mnt), 8.57, 3, Noah Collier (Gis), 7.1, 4
Heat 3
Myka Black (Chch), 15.03, 1, Finn Johnson (Gis), 13.13, 2, Josef Jungwirth (Rag), 9.8, 3, Jacob Buckle (Whngrei), 9.7, 4
Heat 4
Tom Robinson (Whngrei), 11.5, 1, Jacob Saunders (TGA), 10.2, 2, Ethan Wray (Tara), 6.53, 3, Neko Tohiariki (Chch), 6, 4
Under 14 Boys Requalifying Round 2
Heat 1
Liam Heasley (Chch), 11.3, 1, Connor Green (Tas), 5.8, 2, Jordaan Harris (Tas), 3.57, 3
Heat 2
Harper Mcbride (Mnt), 9.94, 1, Tana Clapham (Rag), 7.1, 2, Jarvis Camenzind (Rag), 5.64, 3
Under 14 Boys Quarterfinals
Heat 1
Jayden Willoughby (Rag), 13.74, 1, Reuben Lyons (Kaik), 12.26, 2, Tai Erceg-Gray (Whngrei), 8.97, 3, Connor Green (Tas), 4.87, 4
Heat 2
Finn Vette (Gis), 14.43, 1, Te Kauwhata Kauwhata (Sandy Bay), 13.23, 2, Liam Heasley (Chch), 11.44, 3, Sam Thompson (Auck), 5.5, 4
Heat 3
Jai Oakley (Chch), 12.43, 1, Tiger West-Hill (Gis), 9.26, 2, Tana Clapham (Rag), 5.5, 3, Ollie Holland (Rag), 5.17, 4
Heat 4
Navryn Malone (Rag), 11.27, 1, Koby Cameron (Chch), 10.63, 2, James Millar (Chch), 9.9, 3, Harper Mcbride (Mnt), 5.5, 4
The 2018 National Scholastic Surfing Championships is sanctioned by Surfing New Zealand, the New Zealand Secondary School Sports Council and supported by Pub Charity.
For more information on these events please contact Ben Kennings on 021 2278732 or email benkennings@surfingnz.co.nz.
Surfing New Zealand is proudly partnered by:
Sport NZ
SunSmart
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