A pair of North Shore schools took home the top prizes at the inaugural OIA surfing championships at Kewalo Basin on Monday. Kahuku High School won the boys team title, while Waialua took home the girls title.
The Red Raiders were led by Micah Ah You and Merrik Mochkatel, who each won individual titles. Ah You took home the longboard title, while Mochkatel won the shortboard competition.
After getting announced as the team champion, the Red Raiders linked arms and sang their alma mater.
"It's amazing. Like a lot of other sports — football, basketball, it's epic to bring first place home to Kahuku High. The community always has our back, and they've supported us since day one, and we're stoked to bring it home to them," Kahuku surfing head coach Trenton McCullough told Aloha State Daily.
Kahuku head surfing coach Trenton McCullough gets doused with water after clinching the inaugural OIA championship. Photo by Christian Shimabuku (Aloha State Daily Staff) 
Kahuku head surfing coach Trenton McCullough gets doused with water after clinching the inaugural OIA championship. Photo by Christian Shimabuku (Aloha State Daily Staff) 
Kahuku's surfing team poses for a photo together after winning the inaugural OIA title. Photo by Christian Shimabuku (Aloha State Daily Staff) 
Waialua's girls surfing team poses for a title after clinching the inaugural OIA title. Photo by Christian Shimabuku (Aloha State Daily Staff)
Waialua's girls team was led by Skai Suitt, who won the shortboard title and finished second in bodyboard. For good measure, the sophomore finished fifth in longboard.
Waialua's program, coached by her father, Spencer, took home the title despite the disruption caused by the Kona lows throughout the season. Waialua nearly swept the team competition, its boys team finishing second to Kahuku.
When asked about how the North Shore community was able to come together in response to the damage done by the storm, Spencer Suitt says it brought out the best in people.
"The whole community aspect, in Waialua they really support each other," he said. "In Kahuku, those guys, they all came together and that was like a big ‘ohana, a big family. I live on one of the main hubs that the river flooded out. It was like 20 homes there. There's people that came together, and it was an amazing sight. The whole island supported, businesses and locals and families, they came out. Military came out a little bit late, I will say that. They weren't there for like the first couple days, but then they showed up and then they worked hard. It means a lot just to be able to say we got second place in the boys division in the OIA championships, and we got first place in the girls. It means a lot to be able to hang a banner in the gym and I'm kind of getting emotional about it right now, so, pretty cool."
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Christian Shimabuku can be reached at christian@alohastatedaily.com.
