WAILUA — The Kapa‘a Warriors picked up where they left off in the 2007 Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation paddling season Saturday. Tucked away in their niche next to the bridge spanning the river over Kuhio Highway, the Warriors asserted its dominance
WAILUA — The Kapa‘a Warriors picked up where they left off in the 2007 Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation paddling season Saturday.
Tucked away in their niche next to the bridge spanning the river over Kuhio Highway, the Warriors asserted its dominance over the field by sweeping the finals of the varsity Boys, Girls and Mixed classes.
Amid the cheering and splashing of teammates, the Warrior Girls finished the finals of the division by more than 15 seconds ahead of second-finishing Island School who was disqualified for a uniform violation.
That gave Kaua‘i the second place berth in the finals on a paddle of 4.25:43 over the 1/2-mile course. Kapa‘a set the pace for that field on a 4.10:92 paddle, the crew’s best time of the day.
Earlier in the morning, the varsity Warrior wahine had advanced by stroking to a 4.17:08 run during the preliminaries, their strongest challenge coming from the Red Raiders who paddled to a 4.24:54 finish in the prelims.
The Waimea girls finished the day at 4.34:56 in the preliminaries.
But the Menehune were not to be denied as its men finished in second place of the Varsity Boys final in a race that saw the top-finishing Warrior men appear as their craft literally skimmed the surface of the Wailua River in its pace-setting 3.37:33 run. That race bettered their preliminary runs where the Warrior men set the pace for the field at 3.38:64.
Waimea finished on a 3.48:19 paddle with Kaua‘i filling in third place at 3.57:09 in that division, the Menehune a tad slower than its 3.44:77 showing in the prelims. Kaua‘i also slowed from its 3.49:56 preliminary race.
The Menehune also laid claim to second place in the Mixed Varsity race, chasing the top-finishing Warriors by about 7 seconds.
Some of the Warrior paddlers came from back-to-back runs, finishing the preliminaries on a 4.00:88 paddle and then moving to the starting line of the finals where Kapa‘a set the pace with a 3.57:48 paddle to the approval of cheering fans who lined the banks of the river.
The Menehune men, posting preliminary times of 4.05:95 and 4.33:06, finished its final race at 4.08:02.
Kaua‘i, who opened the preliminaries on a 4.09:29 paddle, filled in third place at 4.14:99, that pace being in the same neighborhood as the Island School team who posted runs of 4.11:51 and 4.20:95 before being eliminated in the preliminary races.
The JV Raider wahine topped that division on a 4.24:62 run over the 1/4-mile course followed by Kapa‘a (4.26:85) and Waimea (4.31:63).
Similarly, the Red Raider JV men were about 8 seconds better than the JV Warriors. Kaua‘i finished that division on a 3.50:38 paddle over Kapa‘a’s 3.58:07 run.
Kaua‘i controlled the JV Mixed division on a 4.05:33 paddle followed by Kapa‘a (4.15:99) and Island School (4.17:56). The Kaua‘i JV ‘B’ team (4.18:32) edged out a strong challenge by the Kapa‘a JV ‘B’ team (4.18:49).
The KIF hosts its second regatta of the season Saturday at the Wailua River. Starting time for the first paddle is at 1:30 p.m. due to ACT testing.
