Salinas, Ecuador - Friday, April 3 - After struggling on Thursday, the PacSun USA Surf Team came surging back into the fray on Friday, jumping from seventh to fourth place in the team standings heading into the final two days at the ISA World Junior Surfing Championships.

Friday saw teams that, just yesterday, were thought to be running away with team gold, come back to the pack. After the sixth day of competition, the Americans trail only Hawaii, France and South Africa and have leads over Brazil and Australia respectively.

Nat Young began his run through the Boys Under 18 Repercharge, winning his sixth round heat, in which none of the surfers caught a wave until nearly the 10-minute mark, on the final exchange. In his seventh round heat, a determined Young took control early and put up the contest's highest wave score to that point - a 9.70 - having his way with the three- to four-foot left at La FAE. When the section called for him to link wrapping, on-rail turns, he did. When it presented him with a critical section, he put his board straight up the wave and lopped the top off. Young found his stride today. It's clear he's focused his sights squarely on the final.

"Today was no different than a normal contest," Young said. "It's do-or-die. If you lose, you lose. And if you win, you get to keep going. Going into the weekend, I need to take first or second every heat until the final.

"We only lost two [surfers] today. That's the least out of the big teams still vying for gold. It evened out, and we're right back in the thick of it."

In Boys Under 16 round four action, Kolohe Andino and Conner Coffin, the top two American seeds in the division, were pitted against two other one seeds from Brazil and Hawaii at the third podium set up at the north end of the bay. Andino came out the winner, seizing his opportunities and surfing cleanly at the right that proved more fun Friday than in days past when the surf was bigger perhaps than the venue could handle.

"I'm super psyched that I made my last heat," Andino said. "It definitely gives me a confidence boost going into tomorrow. I have two Brazilians in my heat, so I have to be in the first exchange. If they get into first and second early, they'll just take turns sitting on me."

With a loss in the Qualifier, Conner Coffin moved to the Repercharge. Coffin, whose backside attack is well-suited to the left point at La FAE, literally powered his way through his sixth round heat in gurgley reforms that stood up halfway out the point and allowed Coffin to execute multiple critical maneuvers on his waves. Coffin surfs with a polished power, uncharacteristic for his age and is leaving his stamp on this competition.

"Judging by everything that happened today, it looks like, as a team, we rebounded from yesterday," Coffin said. "I'm in the Repos, but my game plan hasn't changed. I'm going to go out there and get weird."

On the Girls Under 18 side, Courtney Conlogue and Lani Doherty advanced to round seven of the Repercharge. Conlogue came out of the gate firing. Racking up a high wave score for pulling off big maneuvers on the outside and linking the wave through the middle section that allows for multiple, successive turns all the way to the inside, Conlogue took a commanding early lead and never looked back.

"Hopefully, I'll keep going through my heats tomorrow and giving us a better shot at team gold," said Conlogue. "Key for me is getting scores under my belt in the beginning. I'm having fun, cheering on my teammates, and hope I can work my way into the final."

Lani Doherty came up huge for the Americans on Friday, making it through two Repo rounds. In her first heat, Doherty felt right at home on the right at the north end of the bay. Jumping out to an early lead, she controlled the heat and advanced easily. In her sixth round heat, Doherty, from Maui, came out of nowhere to take the heat and provide the American side with an enormous boost to close out the day.

"It kind of pushed me harder," Doherty said of drawing a Hawaiian in both her heats on Friday. "I wanted to beat the girls I surf against all the time at home."

A day after falling to seventh and on the verge of being pushed out of medal contention, today the Americans climbed right back into the mix.

"It was a really good day for the USA," PacSun USA Surf Team Head Coach, Joey Buran said. "We had fantastic performances from those who advanced and those who were knocked out. We put ourselves in medal contention, but we're going to need to be even better in the next two days if we're going to accomplish the goals we set for ourselves."

Salinas, Ecuador - Saturday, April 4 - And then there were three. The PacSun USA Surf Team will send its number one seed from each division into the final day of the ISA World Junior Surfing Championships. Courtney Conlogue, Nat Young and Kolohe Andino - the only American still in the Qualifier - will each face a pressure packed morning on Sunday; the hopes and dreams for American gold rest on their success.

After the dust settled on Saturday, the American side had climbed up one more spot in the standings to third, right in the middle of the medals race, and are within striking distance of gold.

Saturday the contest ran exclusively at the main podium. Despite a rapidly decreasing swell, conditions at the left point were good in the morning (three- to four-foot) during a higher tide, went dead flat around midday and picked back up in the early to late afternoon as the tide dropped. The mid-size waves that came in off the point in between the sets grinded along the cliff breaking dangerously close to the rocks on the inside, while the set waves swung wider and broke further out; the same pattern contestants and spectators had seen all week, only smaller.

In the Boys Under 16 division, Kolohe Andino turned in what PacSun USA Surf Team Head Coach, Joey Buran, called the best performance in a Juniors heat he's ever seen. Up against two Brazilians in a three-man heat, the Brazilians took turns sitting on Andino during a flat spell early on, pushing him deeper and deeper into the rocks. The Brazilians are notorious for their strategy in the heats where they outnumber their competitors, and even Buran conceded he admired the strategy they chose to employ in the heat.

Andino proved to be too elusive though, catching a short left, kicking out and then paddling inside. "[Sean] Mattison was up on the cliff and told me to go inside," Andino said. "That's how come I made the heat. Tomorrow, the waves should be better with a low tide. The conditions will determine the game plan.

"As far as team gold, as long as all three of us make the finals or top two, we have a good chance of winning."

In the Boys Under 18 division, Nat Young showed a flair for the dramatic today, winning his first heat on a wave he caught just before the horn sounded. After falling as he went to rebound off the whitewater on his first wave, Young came from behind to take the win. His next heat was the most competitive of the contest. But Young opened strong, and it was apparent from the minute he got to his feet that he was on fire, surfing at a blazing pace, he reminded the field why he should be feared going into the final day.

"I need to start quick and I didn't start well in my first heat," Young said. "In my second heat there were definitely some big scores going down and getting that wave at the beginning was crucial. I probably wouldn't have made it if I didn't get that. I need to make all the heats I can and get to the final. From there I'm just going to go for it - first or last."

In Girls Under 18 action Courtney Conlogue dominated. She surfed three heats on the day, and went wire to wire. In her first heat, Conlogue's fast start enabled her to sit on one of the two girls in her heat while, Lani Doherty, another American, racked up a heat score high enough to advance.

"I'm happy to be in the Repo Final and am looking forward to getting to the main final; anything that will help the team," Conlogue said. "We're still in the running for a medal. The U.S. hasn't had gold as a team - just individual golds by CJ [Hobgood] and Julia [Christian] - so it'd be great if we get it. Plus, having been on the team for so long, it would just be amazing."

All week, PacSun USA Surf Team Head Coach, Joey Buran, has said it all comes down to what you do on the last day of competition. If you're the Americans, and you had to pick three surfers to battle it out on the most important day of the contest, the three who are in there are the three you want.

"Today, as a whole, was the most intense day of surfing of this entire event," Buran said. "The drama was unbelievable. We had a good day and will send in our three best to face the rest of the world with everything on the line. And in a competition, that's the way it should be. We have a good opportunity to medal, we kept ourselves in it, but we'll find out tomorrow."



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Americans finish in the medals behind Courtney Conlogue's Individual Silver Medal Finish



Salinas, Ecuador - Sunday, April 5 - The PacSun USA Surf Team won a copper medal and Courtney Conlogue earned individual silver in the Girls Under 18 division as the ISA World Junior Surfing Championships came to a close today.

The Americans sent their top seed from each division into the final day of competition, and had five surfers finish in the Top 10 in their respective divisions. But when all was said and done, it wasn't enough for gold, even with Conlogue's silver medal points. The American side can hold their heads high, though - for the second straight year they finished in the medals, taking copper in 2008 also.

Conlogue turned in one of the more clutch performances of the event, and by far the biggest from the PacSun USA Surf Team, locking up a podium spot for the Americans with her second place finish in the Girls Under 18 division. All day, and really all contest, Conlogue started quick, taking control of her heats and imposing her will on her competitors. She surfed beautifully in both the Repercharge Final and the Divisional Final and her wave selection was key, linking powerful backside turns all the way from the outside through to the inside.

"Pretty stoked to get the silver," Conlogue said. "Going into the [final] heat, I was just trying to stay as relaxed as I could, and I think it just came down to who got the best waves out there. Going into this, I hadn't had a silver since Tahiti, but it would have been nice to get gold, for sure.

"Losing that one qualifier heat made me press the re-boot button, and let me know that I had to get my game on harder. I think that's what got me going again. Coming into this event, I didn't know what to expect and I'm going home happy."

The PacSun USA Surf Team leaves Ecuador having further established themselves as a world surfing power, and certainly one to be reckoned within the months and years to come.