<div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Team USA earned the ISA Aloha Cup Gold Medal in dramatic fashion on Saturday at the <strong>2018 VISSLA ISA World Junior Surfing Championship</strong> presented by Visit Huntington Beach. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Team France earned the Silver, Japan the Bronze and Hawaii the Copper. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Fresh off winning the first Gold Medals of the event, USA will look to carry their momentum into the final day of competition and maintain their lead atop the team rankings, aiming to earn back-to-back Team Gold Medals. A win for USA would be their third in four years. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Japan closely trails USA by 245 points, setting the stage for a showdown to decide the Team Gold Medal on the final day of competition at Huntington Beach Pier.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">USA still has seven surfers remaining in the event, a slight advantage over Japan who has six. The Gold Medal is wide open for the taking for whichever nation brings their top performance to Sunday's competition.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Captain of Team USA <strong>Cole Houshmand</strong> anchored their strong showing in the Repechage Rounds. His performance helped the team reclaim the lead atop the team rankings after briefly falling behind Team Japan on Friday. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Team Hawaii is trailing in third and Australia in fourth, vying for the Bronze and Copper Medals.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Houshmand battled through two rounds of tough Repechage in clean conditions on Saturday. Housmand's 16.5 and 16.13 heat totals were the highest of the day among the boys.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">USA's <strong>Alyssa Spencer</strong>, the 2017 Girls U-16 Gold Medalist, posted the highest heat total (17.07) and wave score (9.07) of the day for the girls, but her hot streak came to an end as she fell in the Repechage Semifinals.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The ISA's unique Aloha Cup capped off the day of competition. In a team relay format, the ISA Aloha Cup features two boys and two girls per team, with each surfer earning points towards their teams' overall score on their leg of the relay. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The semifinals took place on Friday afternoon featuring the top eight nations from the 2017 edition in Hyuga, Japan, with France, Hawaii, Japan, and USA qualifying for the Final. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Aloha Cup was tight until the end, however USA's anchor <strong>Jett Schilling</strong> earned a clutch 7.9 on his final ride that put USA's score out of reach from the competitors. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"After not making the ISA Aloha Cup Final last year, this is great redemption," said USA's <strong>Cole Houshmand</strong>. "We have a super amazing team and I am stoked that we could clinch it.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"We all worked really well together. We felt comfortable with our relay order and it worked out."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Portugal's lone surfer remaining in the event <strong>Afonso Antunes</strong> represented the rest of his team well and advanced into the Boys U-16 Main Event Final. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"It feels really good to advance this far in the event in my second VISSLA ISA Juniors," said Atunes. "I am super proud of myself and it would mean a lot to win a medal. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Before the event I wasn't expecting too much. I just wanted to go heat by heat and see what happened, so I have definitely exceeded my expectations. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Winning the Gold would be the happiest day of my life."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><strong>ISA President Fernando Aguerre</strong> said:</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"This is what we have been waiting for. Months, or even years, of hard work and dedication will culminate in a single day as we get ready to crown the world's next Junior World Champions. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"We could very well see the top surfers qualify for next year's open teams, and therefore have a great shot at qualifying for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"The ISA Aloha Cup has provided us with a great afternoon of excitement to prepare for a historic day of junior surfing here in Huntington Beach."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><strong>November 4</strong> - Competition at Huntington Beach Pier south side, 7:45am - 12pm</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><strong>November 4</strong> - Closing Ceremony after competition</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">*Schedule subject to changes. All times in Pacific Standard Time.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">To see the full schedule of activities, <strong><a href="http://isasurf.org/juniors/2018/en/schedule/" target="_blank">click here</a></strong>.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The 2018 VISSLA ISA World Junior Surfing Championship will be streamed live on <strong><a href="http://www.isasurf.org/" target="_blank">www.isasurf.org</a></strong> October 27 - November 4.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><strong>ISA Aloha Cup results:</strong></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Gold - USA</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Silver - France</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Bronze - Japan</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Copper - Hawaii</div>