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Byron Ellis of Kihei Charter School (from left) battles for the lead with Maui Prep’s Ezra Offergeld as Kamehameha Maui’s Cru Spalding and Seabury Hall’s Max Volk give chase on the first leg of the boys relay final during MIL surf meet No. 1 on Saturday at Kahului Harbor. Kihei Charter won the race. Dayanidhi photos

Maui Prep won the mixed and girls paddling relays at the first Maui Interscholastic League surf meet of the season Saturday at Kahului Harbor.

Head judge Al Sagon deemed the waves not consistent enough for a surfing event, so officials switched the contest to paddle races on 9-foot longboards.

“It would have been a little frustrating for the competitors and coaches,” Sagon said. “The waves were barely breaking at the Jetty.”

In addition to the relay wins, MPA had three individual paddling winners: Pierce Armstrong at boys No. 4, Rebekah Ankney at girls No. 4, and Sadie Stafford at girls No. 5. Armstrong was part of the winning mixed crew while Ankney and Stafford joined Sloane Jucker and Alyssa Condrey on the top girls relay. Jucker, Condrey and Niko Banto rounded out the victorious mixed team.

Sloane Jucker of Maui Prep smiles as she paddles her leg in a semifinal win in the mixed relay. Jucker paddled legs on both of Maui Prep’s winning mixed and girls relay teams.

“We’re really excited, we had a great day,” said first-year Maui Prep head coach Lucho Banto. “We have a strong team, it was a really fun event for us.”

Banto feels longboard paddling has a direct correlation to shortboard surfing.

“I totally think that paddling is 70-80 percent of surfing,” Banto said. “My team is looking very strong. I think we’re going to give King Kekaulike a fight for the title this year, both boys and girls.”

Last year King Kekaulike won the boys overall title while Baldwin claimed the girls crown.

Kihei Charter, under longtime surf coach Ken Goring, won the boys relay. This is the second year that the Tiger Sharks have had a surf team, both years under Goring. Previously Goring taught and coached surfing at Maui High.

Kamehameha Maui’s Mia Matsumoto (left) is neck-and-neck with Haleakala Waldorf’s Talei Laury-Schaefer as Maui Prep’s Sadie Stafford is not too far behind on the first leg of the girls relay final.

Goring agreed about the importance of prone paddling.

“Paddling is what you do most of the time,” Goring said. “Surfing should be called paddling.”

Goring’s winning boys relay team consisted of one junior in Byron Ellis, and three freshmen in Noah Haas, Max Schwartz and Miki Przeciechowski. All four boys were able to catch a wave after making the turn for the finish.

“They’ve been working super hard,” Goring said. “They were so lucky, they were in perfect rhythm. They ended up lapping everyone, it was pretty cool.”

“I’m super excited for them to even get any kind of results when they’re new,” Goring added. “I think their competitive juices are flowing, and that will translate to the surfing.”

The next MIL surf meet will be at D.T. Fleming Beach Park on March 18.

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