WAILUA — Kapa‘a High School paddling teams won four of the six events, but there was no celebration Saturday at the Wailua River. Two of the six events that eluded the Warrior paddlers went to Kaua‘i High School during the
WAILUA — Kapa‘a High School paddling teams won four of the six events, but there was no celebration Saturday at the Wailua River.
Two of the six events that eluded the Warrior paddlers went to Kaua‘i High School during the Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation’s Championship regatta.
That included the Kaua‘i varsity girls and varsity boys divisions that will be representing the KIF at the 2009 First Hawaiian Bank Boys & Girls Canoe Paddling state championships on Maui, Feb. 7. Kapa‘a will be sending its varsity mixed team that earned top honors in that division.
The hard-fought win for Kaua‘i was made harder to swallow when Kapa‘a girls finished in a tie for overall points with the Raider team at 22 points each.
Throughout the season, both teams waged a battle for supremacy in that division, and on Saturday, it came down to technique in the final stretch as Kaua‘i girls paddled feverishly with short power strokes compared with the Warrior crew that dug deep and pulled hard in Lane 1.
That gave the win to Kaua‘i, which crossed the finish line on a 4:08.18 paddle, followed by Kapa‘a at 4:13.43. Waimea, placing with 10 points, stopped the clock at 4:32.56.
Kaua‘i’s other win came in the boys varsity division, where it was strongly challenged by the Warriors until the championship. In the final races, the Raiders posted a 3:56.80 run in the preliminaries en route to an even better 3:43.14 run in the finals.
Kapa‘a showed a 3:55.03 in the preliminaries and bettered that run with a 3:54.62 paddle in Lane 3 during the finals for second place. Waimea rounded out the field with a 3:53.31 paddle.
With the win, Kaua‘i varsity boys, undefeated in the season, pick up 28 points followed by Kapa‘a and Waimea posting 14 and 12 points, respectively.
Kapa‘a’s big race came in the varsity mixed division where it finished about three seconds ahead of Kaua‘i on a 3:51.32 showing over Kaua‘i’s 3:54.06, both teams showing an improved run over its preliminary runs, the Raiders opting for a new steersperson for the Saturday races.
Waimea rounded out the field with a 4:24.95 run for 11 points. Kaua‘i and Kapa‘a picked up 26 and 17 points, respectively for its finishes.
Earlier in the day, Kapa‘a swept the JV series, taking the JV girls class on a 4:14.87 run after being challenged by the Raiders’ team that finished 4:19.19.
Kapa‘a’s JV boys remained undefeated in its season, finishing the championship regatta with a 4:01.50 despite being edged by Kaua‘i’s unofficial team’s run of 3:59.26 and Waimea’s unofficial team’s 4:10.62.
Kapa‘a’s efforts in the JV Mixed paid off after its top team clocked 4:04.40 over Kaua‘i (4:15.22) and Waimea (4:48.25). The Warriors followed that run with an exhibition run featuring three teams.
