Teiva Keomaniboth of King Kekaulike and Sloane Jucker of Maui Prep were selected boys and girls Maui Interscholastic League Surfers of the Year by a vote of the coaches. The MIL surf coaches also picked Kihei Charter’s Ken Goring as Coach of the Year.

Keomaniboth was surprised on his selection.

“I think that’s pretty great, honestly,” Keomaniboth said. “Senior year, it’s pretty amazing.”

Keomaniboth has been an integral part of King Kekaulike’s three MIL boy’s team titles during his four years. A fixture in the Na Ali’i starting lineup since his freshmen year, he has surfed in the No. 4, No. 3 and No. 2 slots, winning in all the divisions. Bouncing between No. 2 and No. 3 this year, Keomaniboth was unbeaten.

“I found it great (to surf in different divisions), because it’s so different every single time, with different people,” Keomaniboth said. “Because typically, the same people from the same schools go into the same division. So being able to surf against everybody and chat with them out in the line-up. I like it a lot.”

Keomaniboth will attend the University of Hawaii at Manoa in the fall. He has nothing but great thoughts about his four years surfing for the Na Ali’i.

“Honestly, I’d say probably the best memories is just seeing the whole team show up super early, and being super supportive regardless of how we do that day or throughout the entire season,” Keomaniboth said. “Everyone’s just stoked to be there, and we just have fun. There’s no downs, there’s only ups. And we’ve had the same coaches, great guys. I love them.”

Jucker, a junior, also went undefeated, winning all four contests during the team season at No. 1, and then winning the MIL individual final at Lahaina Harbor.

“It was a tough season, tough year, but I’m really happy that I was able to take that away (Surfer of the Year) as well as winning the champs (MIL title),” Jucker said. “Obviously, it was my best year and my most involved year. Last year I missed a couple contests for the ISA (International Surfing Association junior world championship), and then freshman year, just getting the feel of things.”

“I really wanted to win this year,” Jucker added. “I definitely put my best effort in and trained every day with the team. It feels good that my work paid off.”

Jucker’s Maui Prep team placed third after winning last year. “The team felt really good. Everyone was super pumped and excited, especially surfing in Lahaina. I got to be the captain again. That was really cool because this year we did the best we could have, to be honest. So it makes me really happy.”

Goring has been the head coach of Kihei Charter since the Tiger Sharks joined the MIL for surfing in 2022. Goring, the dean of students, had previously coached at Maui High when he was on their faculty.

The Tiger Sharks placed second in the boys and fourth in the girls final team standings. They were a model of consistency with the boys finishing second in every meet while the girls were fourth in three of the four contests.

“I started like about 20 years ago with Maui High when Maka (former coach Maka Puaa) handed it over to me,” Goring said. “That was back in the (high school) club days.”

Goring’s first Kihei Charter team was almost all freshmen boys and only one girl. “I kept trying to build it and build it, and I was hoping to have a full team for her (Layla James), so they could be competitive in the team (competition). That was a really big deal because that felt like we’d finally kind of reached the level you aspired to, as far as having a full program.”

“And then with our boys, we have a huge number of really good surfers. That was almost like an embarrassment of riches because I felt like we had guys that were alternates that could win divisions too. We worked real hard all year long. I could see the improvement through all the training. Running the mock heats was really important I thought, because I felt like they were more and more relaxed the more we practiced. It’s been a great season for both boys and girls.”

Goring said he pushed the team too hard last year. “The boys did surprisingly well the second year. I got a little bit hungry to see if they could win the championship the next year. I kind of poured it on really thick as far as we have to practice all the time. We have to work on all these things. We actually went down last year, and I started realizing, I’ve worked these guys to burnout. So this year, I made a point of bringing back the joy. If they’re stoked, and we’re enjoying this, then that’s a W right there. I kind of re-shifted some of the focus away from just the grind into a little bit more of community building and just finding that the real reason we surf is the joy of it.”

The other boy all-stars included Keomaniboth’s teammates Chase Burnes and Kanoa Kuailani, Angel Jardine, of Maui Christian, Kahlil Pineres-Schooley, of Seabury Hall, and last year’s MIL surfer of the year, Zolten Poulsen, of Maui Prep.

The other girl all-stars included King Kekaulike teammates Chrislyn Simpson-Kane and Ayla Daian, Maui Christian teammates Mikaia Barnes and Thayane Colpas, and Layla James, of Kihei Charter.