Queen’s High School year 12 pupil Jaya Reardon won the girls under-18 title at the national scholastic championships.
It was the first national title of any kind for Reardon in what was a tough grade.
She had to go through her heat and quarterfinal earlier in the week and then a semifinal and final yesterday.
She had a 25-minute final against three other surfers yesterday and managed to score the winning wave about halfway through the heat.
The 16-year-old was thrilled to win the award and said he had found the swell pretty tricky and hard to read.
Fellow Queen’s High School pupil Anika Ayson finished third in the same final.
The surfing was at the Mangamaunu break, which had produced mixed conditions throughout the week.
Overall, Otago finished fifth at the championships with 11 regions from around the country represented.
Home team Canterbury won the team title.
