Local surfer, Leihani Kaloha Zoric, has had a big couple of weeks that has included back-to-back championship wins in the U/14 girls category of two big Oz Grom surfing competitions which have included international competitors.
The icing on the cake for Broken Head-based Leihani was on Monday morning, when she blew away her nearest rival in the U/14 girls final of the Skullcandy Oz Grom Open at Lennox Head.
Leihani snared two big rides at the end of the final, giving her a total of 16.34, well ahead of Talia Tebb’s total of 7.53.
Earlier in the day during the semi-final it was a similar result, when she beat Chartlotte Riley with a total of 13.84 against 8.50.
Six-day event
The six-day Skullcandy event ran from July 4 to 9, and included a World Surf League (WSL) sanctioned Pro Junior Qualifying Series (JQS) event, as well as an elite competition for promising grommets, in the 14, 16 and 18-year age divisions.
The competition included over 200 surfers from as far away as Europe, the US, Hawaii, Indonesia and Japan.
But Leihani hit this competition on a high, after snaring another U/14 girls championship at the Surfing Queensland’s Occy Grom Comp, held at Snapper Rocks, Gold Coast, from June 28 to July 2.
Leihani was strong from the start in this competition, and also seemed untroubled in the final.
She scored the best wave, with a 9.10, that gave her a total of 17.60. It was too much for her opponent, Gold Coast surfer, Miller-May Berg, whose top ride was an 8.0 for a total of 15.00.
Yesterday’s final at Lennox Head saw champions crowned across eight divisions.
Other winners included: U/14 boys Locana Cullen; U/16 girls Wliza Richardson; and U/16 boys Max Mcgillivray (Evans Head).
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
