Conlogue’s silver helps U.S. juniors finish fourth

Courtney Conlogue, a Sage Hill School junior, captured a silver medal in the girls’ under-18 division at the International Surfing Assn. World Junior Championships in Salinas, Ecuador Sunday.

Her second-place finish helped the U.S. junior national traveling surf team take fourth place for the second straight year. Newport Harbor junior Kaleigh Gilchrist and senior classmate Chase Wilson were also a part of the team. Colin Moran, a 14-year-old eighth-grader at TeWinkle Intermediate, was an alternate on the squad.

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 it wasn’t enough for gold, even with Conlogue’s silver medal points.

Australia won its fourth straight gold medal.

“Pretty stoked to get the silver,” Conlogue told surfline.com. “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.

— From staff reports