The margin was less than a quarter of a second, but that was good enough to give the Kaua‘i High School girls a first finish at the Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation paddling regatta Saturday. That slim victory — .23 seconds, to
The margin was less than a quarter of a second, but that was good enough to give the Kaua‘i High School girls a first finish at the Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation paddling regatta Saturday.
That slim victory — .23 seconds, to be exacct — gave Kaua‘i High School victories in the varsity boys and varsity girls divisions. Meanwhile Kapa‘a held off both Kaua‘i and Waimea high school teams to post its second straight first finish in the varsity mixed class.
Kapa‘a, posting five first finishes out of six in last week’s regatta, was downed to just first finishes in the varsity mixed, the JV mixed and the JV boys classes over the weekend.
The Red Raiders, meanwhile, finished with first finishes in the JV girls, the varsity girls and varsity boys division with Waimea, making a strong showing in the varsity mixed event, chalking up a second place for that class, relegating the Raiders to third place by less than a second.
The varsity girls win for Kaua‘i was redemption from the week before when its team, relegated to Lane 3 in the preliminaries, dropped to Kapa‘a and never regained itself.
“We were first out of the turn,” said Kaua‘i coach Lori Parraga. “We had the lead coming out of the turn, but then we got sucked into the trees by the current.”
This week, Lane 3 was nowhere to be found for Kaua‘i as its varsity girls posted a 4:23.15 paddle for second in the preliminaries to Kapa‘a (4:14.91) before whittling almost five seconds off that run in the finals, stopping the clock at 4:18.54 to Kapa‘a’s 4:18.77. Waimea finished third on a 4:41.73 paddle.
Kaua‘i varsity boys’ team dropped from its 3:46.30 paddle last week to stop the clock at 3:46.56, but that was good enough to edge out Kapa‘a (3:48.05) and Waimea (3:53.78) for that division.
Kapa‘a picked up its second straight varsity mixed first place on a 4:05.44, dropping from its 4:03.51 performance last week, but being able to hold off Waimea (4:10.06) and Kaua‘i (4:10.93).
“I told the paddlers they can’t count out Waimea,” Parraga said. “‘They (Waimea paddlers) are hungry, and they know they’re in it, so you folks gotta keep working,’ I told them.”
In the JV races, the Kaua‘i JV girls shaved off almost a second from last week to take this week’s class on a 4:25.42 run over Kapa‘a (4:34.04) and Waimea (4:39.18). Last week, Kaua‘i’s 4:26.59 performance was good for second to Kapa‘a (4:22.92).
Similar to last week, Kapa‘a JV boys was the only craft on the Wailua River, this week posting a 4:12.18 run compared with 3:57.22 from last week.
The Warriors’ JV mixed team also posted an improvement over its last week paddle, stopping the clocks at 4:16.22 for top honors, Saturday. Kaua‘i, improving from its 4:25.75 run last week, filled in second place on a 4:18.42 run with Waimea (4:32.76) settling in third place. Kapa‘a finished last week’s JV mixed run at 4:18.06.
Parraga said with Saturday’s results in, she thinks Kaua‘i and Kapa‘a are tied, setting the stage for the KIF Regatta No. 3 which will start at 10 a.m. Saturday at the Wailua River.
This week’s regatta will be hosted by Waimea High School.
