Kahlil Pineres-Schooley gets carried off the beach after winning the boys shortboard final at the inaugural Hawaii High School Athletic Association Surfing Championships on Saturday at Hookipa Beach Park. Eli Pace/The Maui News

Kahlil Pineres-Schooley became the first-ever high school state surfing champion in the boys shortboard division, and he wasn’t the only one celebrating his place atop the podium Saturday at Hookipa Beach Park.

“That actually made my day,” said Kim Ball, Maui Interscholastic League Surfing co-coordinator, of seeing a surfer from the Valley Isle take the title. “He was the first state champion ever in the state of Hawaii, so that’s even better. And such a great kid.”

The path to the final for the sophomore from Seabury Hall featured second-place marks in his opening-round, quarterfinal and semifinal heats at the inaugural Hawaii High School Athletic Association Surfing Championships.

In the final, Pineres-Schooley scored a 6.6 on his first wave and a 7.67 on his second, giving the straight-A student-athlete the highest single-wave score of the final and a 14.27 total. That was enough to edge out Kapaa’s Hayden Flores, who finished runner-up at 13.20.

“Leading up to the final, sitting in the channel, I just kept telling myself, ‘I need to stay calm. I know that if I get the opportunity to perform, I’m going to take that opportunity no matter what,'” Pineres-Schooley said after the event.

He said that after he caught the first wave and converted it into a good score, that’s when he got his chance to shine.

“For my highest score of the heat, I saw this wave come, some of the other competitors were battling deeper and got pushed too deep, and I realized, ‘Oh, I could paddle wide and swing and catch this thing,” he said. “So I caught it and I saw maybe the best section I’ve seen all event. I was like, ‘I’m gonna go 100% at this section and just throw everything I got.’ Luckily, I stuck it and that was the winning score.”

Seabury Hall sophomore Kahlil Pineres-Schooley speaks to the media after winning the boys shortboard division at the inaugural HHSAA Surfing Championships. Eli Pace/The Maui News

Altogether, the boys shortboard division featured 41 of the best surfers from across the state with nine slots going to the MIL.

Showing the strength of Maui’s surfers, four of the six boys who qualified for the shortboard final came from the MIL, including King Kekaulike’s Chase Burnes, Lahainaluna’s Matias Banto and Maui Prep’s Zolten Poulsen in addition to Pineres-Schooley.

“We’ve got a lot of talent here,” Ball said. “We got a little bit of work to do, maybe in longboarding and bodyboarding, but shortboarding, our kids obviously are as good as anybody in the nation.”

Burnes finished third at 12.63. Banto was fourth at 10.00, and Poulsen took sixth with a score of 8.24.

“I think it was really special that many Maui athletes were in the final because this is, like, the first time we’re having this state event. I mean, Kim Ball is maybe the reason why this is actually happening,” Pineres-Schooley said. “We’ve all grown up at this wave. This is our home break. And I think it’s really special that we were all able to represent our island, not just our schools, at this event.”

Kahlil Pineres-Schooley stands atop the podium after winning the boys shortboard division at the inaugural HHSAA Surfing Championships on Saturday. Standing with him are King Kekaulike’s Chase Burnes (third), Lahainaluna’s Matias Banto (fourth) and Maui Prep’s Zolten Poulsen (sixth). Eli Pace/The Maui News

A special moment on Maui

The effort to make surfing a sanctioned sport in Hawaii’s schools was a long time coming, and it extended all the way up to the governor’s office with Gov. Josh Green signing legislation last year appropriating funding for the first-ever state championships.

“Surfing is more than a sport in Hawaii, it is a way of life for our people,” Green said during a ceremony in September 2025 attended by other elected officials, high school surfers and Ball, among others.

High schools on Maui have competed in surfing for about three decades now — first as an unofficial club sport and then as a sanctioned sport by the MIL starting in 2014. Because of the MIL’s experience hosting surfing tournaments and the extensive work done on Maui to grow the sport, the first-ever state championships were held Friday and Saturday at Hookipa Beach Park on Maui’s North Shore, hosted by the MIL.

The two-day event featured 174 high school surfers and bodyboarders from Hawaii, and there were 36 high schools boys teams and 27 girls teams in the mix. All five of Hawaii’s high school leagues were represented, and boys and girls champions were crowned in the shortboard, longboard and bodyboard divisions.

At the end of the awards presentation Saturday, Ball was honored with a quilt made from numerous surfing competition T-shirts that took place over the years.

Maui Interscholastic League Surfing co-coordinator Kim Ball is presented with a quilt made from T-shirts from surfing contests held in the past at the conclusion of the HHSAA Surfing Championships. Eli Pace/The Maui News

One of the people who lost their homes in the 2023 Lahaina fire, Ball’s eyes pooled with tears of joy as he talked about how he was feeling Saturday afternoon.

“Pretty unbelievable,” Ball said. “You know, those guys bring it up, losing our house, you know that all plays into everything, so this has been a good diversion from the rebuild and all that sort of thing.”

Ball said the quilt came as a complete surprise to him, but he remembers all of the events memorialized on it, and he’s so happy to have that quilt after losing his collection of event T-shirts in the fire. Ball said he’s going to keep the quilt in a special place.

“I’ll be putting that on my bed,” he said.

Ball also made sure to have every surfer who made the podium Saturday sign a new shirt as he works to build up a new collection of them.

Kim Ball reacts as he is presented with a quilt made from T-shirts from surfing contests held in the past at the conclusion of the 2026 HHSAA Surfing Championships. Eli Pace/The Maui News

Notable finishes from the MIL

Maui Prep’s Sloane Jucker had the top place on the podium among the MIL girls, as she finished second in girls shortboard with a score of 10.17 in the final. Skai Suitt of Waialua took first at 16.00, while Lahainaluna’s Ocean Lipstein was fifth at 7.47.

Sloane Jucker of Maui Prep competes in the girls shortboard final at the inaugural Hawaii High School Athletic Association Surfing Championships on Saturday at Hookipa Beach Park. Jucker finished second in the event. Eli Pace/The Maui News

Waialua’s Hanae Rose won the girls longboard competition with a 13.40 score in the final. In girls longboard, Lipstein and Lila Sloan of Maui Christian made it as far as the semifinal.

In addition to making the podium in shortboard, Poulsen finished third in boys longboard at 12.66 behind state champion Alex Ranne (14.26) of the Hawaii Academy of Arts and Science and runner-up Micah Ah You (12.87) of Kahuku. Also, Bode Davis of Kulanihakoi took fourth, giving the MIL two slots on the podium in the boys longboard division.

Maui Prep’s Zolten Poulsen competes in the boys longboard final at the inaugural HHSAA Surfing Championships. Poulsen finished third in the event. Eli Pace/The Maui News

Hi’ipoi Starbuck of Kamehameha Schools Maui finished fourth in girls bodyboard with a 5.73 score in the final. Kaipoi Koa of Kalani took first at 13.80.

Felix Barton of Hawaii Academy of Arts and Science won the boys bodyboard title with a 16.74, while Makoa Kapuniai of King Kekaulike owned the top finish for the MIL in boys bodyboard at sixth.

In the race for team titles, the Waialua girls came out on top, while Kapolei finished second. Among the boys, Kahuku took first as a team and Kapaa took runner-up honors.

The best team finishes from the MIL were from the Maui Prep boys, who took third, and the Lahainaluna girls, who finished fifth. The King Kekaulike boys also finished fifth in the hunt for the team crown.

Standing on podium for the girls shortboard division are Skai Suitt of Waialua (first place), Sloane Jucker of Maui Prep (second) Brenice Alama of Kapolei (third) Chloe Cloward of Punahou (fourth), Ocean Lipstein of Lahainaluna (fifth) and Nahla Kattlove of Island School (sixth).

Bode Davis of Kulanihakoi competes in the boys longboard final at the inaugural HHSAA Surfing Championships. Poulsen finished third in the event. Eli Pace/The Maui News

Makoa Kapuniai of King Kekaulike finished sixth in the boys bodyboard division. Eli Pace/The Maui News

HHSAA 2026 Surfing State Championships

Girls Results

Team scores — 1. Waialua, 4120; 2. Kapolei, 3150; 3. Kamehameha-Kapalama, 3003; 4. Kapaa, 2971; 5. Lahainaluna, 2770; 6. Punahou, 2445; 7. Maui Prep, 2100; 8. Ke Kula o Samuel M. Kamakau, 1928; 9. Maui Christian Academy, 1828; 10. Kealakehe, 1703; 11. Mililani, 1490; 12. Kalani, 1370; 13. King Kekaulike, 1325; 14. Campbell, 1298; 15. Kahuku, 1165.

Shortboard — 1. Skai Suitt, Waialua, 16.00; 2. Sloane Jucker, Maui Prep, 10.17; 3. Brenice Alama, Kapolei, 9.97; 4. Chloe Cloward, Punahou, 9.96; 5. Ocean Lipstein, Lahainaluna, 7.47; 6. Nahla Kattlove, Island School, 7.10.

Longboard — 1. Hanae Rose, Waialua, 13.40; 2. Joie Kaiu, Kamehameha-Kapalama, 12.47; 3. Pi’ilani Hong, Ke Kula o Samuel M. Kamakau, 12.40; 4. Kaya Pestana, ‘Iolani, 11.10; 5. Annalisa Makita, Kapolei, 8.93; 6. Puaiohi DeFries, Kamehameha-Kapalama, 8.00.

Bodyboard — 1. Kaipoi Koa, Kalani, 13.80; 2. Chloe Cloward, Punahou, 12.66; 3. Kailana Tong Matthews, Kamehameha-Kapalama, 8.47; 4. Hi’ipoi Starbuck, Kamehameha-Maui, 5.73; 5. Addison Murphy, Kapaa, 5.67; 6. Ella Koenigs, Kealakehe, 4.93.

Boys Results

Team scores — 1. Kahuku, 3150; 2. Kapaa, 2935; 3. Maui Prep, 2931; 4. Hawaii Academy of Arts & Science, 2300; 5. King Kekaulike, 2181; 6. Punahou, 2181; 7. Kalani, 2165; 8. Waialua, 2120; 9. Kamehameha-Kapalama, 1870; 10. Seabury Hall, 1488; 11. Iolani, 1340; 12. Hilo, 1250; 13. Lahainaluna, 1060; 14. Kealakehe, 1010; 15. Campbell, 910.

Shortboard — 1. Kahlil Pineres-Schooley, Seabury Hall, 14.27; 2. Hayden Flores, Kapaa, 13.20; 3. Chase Burnes, King Kekaulike, 12.63; 4. Matias Banto, Lahainaluna, 10.00; 5. Joe Shirota, Campbell, 9.43; 6. Zolten Poulsen, Maui Prep, 8.24.

Longboard — 1. Alex Ranne, Hawaii Academy of Arts & Science, 14.26; 2. Micah Ah You, Kahuku, 12.87; 3. Zolten Poulsen, Maui Prep, 12.66; 4. Bode Davis, Kulanihakoi, 11.70; 5. Konan Riddleberger, Waialua, 10.03; 6. Kala Kukea, Mid-Pacific Institute, 7.90.

Bodyboard — 1. Felix Barton, Hawaii Academy of Arts & Science, 16.74; 2. Chavez Alapai-Torres, Waianae, 14.50; 3. Rylee Zane Pang, Kamehameha-Kapalama, 13.40; 4. Racesen Loa, Waianae, 8.70; 5. Liam Antipala, Pacific Buddhist Academy, 8.67; 6. Makoa Kapuniai, King Kekaulike, 4.53.