Kealakehe girls, Hilo boys win first BIIF surfing titles

Kealakehe’s girls and Hilo’s boys won the first BIIF surfing championships at Banyans in Kailua-Kona, turning a school sport that did not exist a year ago into a new Big Island pipeline with real stakes for athletes and families.

The finals closed an inaugural season that felt built for the island from the start. Kealakehe took the girls team title, while Hilo earned the first BIIF boys team championship, giving both programs a place in the island’s scholastic surf history. In a league organized around shortboard, longboard and bodyboard, the results showed depth across schools rather than a one-off exhibition.

The individual titles went to a familiar list of Big Island names. Keano Crawford of Connections won boys shortboard, with Matthias Ronning of Kealakehe second and Sandler Everly third. Sadie Fair of Kealakehe took girls shortboard, followed by Hereiti Delenia and Jude Groak, also of Kealakehe. Amaya Ranne of Hawaii Academy of Arts and Sciences won girls longboard, with Kira Werner second and Penelope Ruth-Conley third. Alex Ranne won boys longboard, with Crawford second and Everly third. Penelope Ruth-Conley won girls bodyboard, Ella Koenigs was second and Aubrie Graham third. Analu Yockman won boys bodyboard, ahead of Masau Lee and Isaiah Ishigo.

The size of the first-year field underscored how fast the sport took hold. The Hawaii High School Athletic Association said surfing became an interscholastic state championship sport beginning with the Spring 2026 season, and 55 high schools across Hawaii’s five leagues participated. HHSAA’s state tournament page lists BIIF with 7 boys shortboard, 5 boys longboard, 3 boys bodyboard, 5 girls shortboard, 4 girls longboard and 2 girls bodyboard berths, enough room for a strong Big Island contingent at the first state meet.

That state meet is set for May 1-2 at Ho‘okipa Beach Park on Maui, with 174 student-athletes qualifying statewide. The launch builds on more than a decade of sanctioned surfing in the Maui Interscholastic League, which has offered HIDOE-sanctioned surfing since 2014, and on Act 141, signed by Gov. Josh Green in 2025, which funded the statewide program.

For West Hawaii, the significance goes beyond trophies. The first BIIF contest was held March 7 at Honoli‘i in Hilo, and the second was April 4 at Kohanaiki Beach Park, the first West Hawaii stop. By the time Banyans hosted the finals, the season had already shown that surfing could sit alongside every other prep sport, giving Big Island schools a sanctioned path from local breaks to a Maui podium and giving the island another way to define school pride.