Kula canoe paddling coaches John Cornell, Judy Waite, and Carol Arreola have their hands full of young, talented paddlers with a bundle of talent. “We have a young team that’s in really good shape,” Cornell said. With four varsity squads
Kula canoe paddling coaches John Cornell, Judy Waite, and Carol Arreola have their hands full of young, talented paddlers with a bundle of talent.
“We have a young team that’s in really good shape,” Cornell said.
With four varsity squads (two boys, one girls, one mixed) and one JV squad (JV mixed), Kula looks to build up a strong foundation for upcoming years.
“We’re just developing the program, plus it helps that our school now requires each student to participate in at least one KIF sport per season,” Cornell said.
The boys squad features Kai Anderson (steersman), Matthew Clark, Makai Ferry, Alex Latif, Arthur Long, Martin Knutzen, Ryan Matthews, Darian Parrish, Sam Richard, Jeff Sexton, Kibo Smith, Troy Wooton (steersman), Collin Farrell, Kyle Sherrer, and Alex Geimer.
“We had a good turnout for the boys and Sam (Richard) is a real strong paddler, so he’ll be a key performer this season,” Cornell said.
Meanwhile, the Kula girls crew is much smaller with six paddlers. Caitlen Clendenen, Devon Fisher, Nikki Hassell, Amber Loughead, Summer Ryll, and Canada Parrish.
“Loughead is a natural, she’s a real strong paddler for the girls squad and should do extremely well this year,” Cornell said.
The JV mixed crew will be made up of Clendenen, Loughead, Ryll, Clark, Geimer, and Matthews.
“We might move up some of our JV paddlers towards the end of the season; it’ll depend on how much they develop,” Cornell said.
According to Cornell, the varsity mixed crew will change from week to week.
“Waimea has showed us a lot of aloha and we appreciate all of the other schools for helping us out, we’re a small squad, but we should do well this year,” Cornell said.
