By Luke Voogt
Two Jan Juc brothers surfed to glory in their age groups in the opening round of the Victorian Junior Series at Phillip Island over the weekend.
Xavier Huxtable dominated the under-16s with a score of 11.67, beating the next three surfers by four or more points.
“I’m stoked,” Xavier said, “there were a lot of good surfers.”
“I’m just going to take one comp by one comp.”
His brother Ethan took out the under-14s in a narrow win over fellow Jan Juc local Patrick Hughes, 9.57 to 9.23.
The brothers had a friendly rivalry in the comp before Xavier progressed to under-16s this year.
“I only lost to him once,” 14-year-old Xavier said. “I could usually paddle into a better wave because he was so small.”
But the rivalry continues when the brothers hit the waves together in Jan Juc.
“We drop in each other a bit,” Xavier said.
Xavier said the smaller break at Smiths Beach made conditions tough.
“The waves were small and closing out.”
Fellow Jan Juc local Arabella Wilson rode the two-to-three foot swell to victory in the girls under-16s with a score 8.40.
Ocean Grove’s Bodie Williams and Jan Juc’s Indi White took third and fourth under-16s, while Jan Juc’s Angelique Kefalas placed third among the girls.
Kenta Fergusson (Jan Juc) came second in the boy’s under-18s, and Patrick Hughes (Jan Juc) and Zeph Lamperd (Barwon Heads) placed second and third in the under-14s.
Ellie Harrison (Barwon Heads), Jazz Wylie (Jan Juc) and Cielle Bouvier (Jan Juc, 3.57pts) place second, third and fourth respectively in the under -14s girls.
The series will make its way to the Mornington Peninsula for Round 2 on 25 and 26 February. Entries are still open at www.surfingvic.com
