CULBURRA Beach's Keira Buckpitt has continued her strong recent form in the surf by finishing third at the Billabong Oz Grom Cup on Wednesday.
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On a day which saw nine new champions crowned in playful two-to-three foot peaks at Park Beach, Buckpitt was edged out for the top two spots by Sawtell's Rosie Smart and Tewantin's Coco Cairns in the 14 and under girls - with Tweed Heads' Cali Barrett finishing fourth.
Smart synced her rounded repertoire of turns and carves to her local beachbreak conditions, performing a series of decent turns to post a solid 15.17 two-wave heat total for the win.
Gold Coast natural-footer Jackson Graham (Currumbin) saved his best performance for last as he tackled the 16 and under boys division.
With the priority on his side, Graham found a bomb set that allowed him to execute a barrage of giant snaps which were duly rewarded with a near-perfect 9.50 scoring wave.
The aforementioned score allowed Graham to leap his fellow opposition, including Mike Clayton-Brown (Port Stephens), Marlon Harrison (Coolangatta) and Saxon Reber (Manly), gain the lead and claim the biggest win of his young career.
Charli Hurst (Port Kembla) found a handful of powerful sections and steep walls over the duration of the 16 and under girls division, claiming an impressive victory.
The South Coast goofy-footer nailed a mix of sections in the 20-minute affair, posting a respectable 12.16 two-wave total to get the win ahead of Giorgia Lorentson (Noosa Heads), Carly Shanahan (Wooli) and Lily Macdonald (Freshwater) who claimed second, third and fourth respectively.
Not to be outdone, Lucas Deffenti (Miami) showed he'd be a name to watch in future years, surfing out of his skin in the eight mixed division.
Paddling in without the assistance of parents, Deffenti performed a handful of decent carves and turns to post a perfect 10.00 ride and a 7.33 to take his two-wave heat total to 17.33 and as a result, left his fellow competitors chasing two-wave combinations of scores to take away his stranglehold on the heat.
Other champions on the day were Barrack Point's Lenniz Smith (14 and under boys), Palm Beach's Rico Haybittle (12 and under boys), Margaret River's Ruby Berry (12 and under girls), Evans Head's Max McGillivray (10 and under boys) and Gymea Bay's Evie Fisher (10 and under girls).