WAILUA — The Kapa‘a High School paddling teams continue to control four of the six divisions in the Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation paddling regatta. The Kaua‘i High School varsity girls squad rebounded from its loss to Kawaikini last week and combined
WAILUA — The Kapa‘a High School paddling teams continue to control four of the six divisions in the Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation paddling regatta.
The Kaua‘i High School varsity girls squad rebounded from its loss to Kawaikini last week and combined with a win by its Junior Varsity girls squad, took control of the remaining two divisions.
Saturday marked the start of three short, or sprint courses, in the KIF paddling regatta, and despite the onslaught of strong tradewinds, the Kapa‘a teams took wins in the JV Boys, JV Mixed, varsity Boys and varsity Mixed divisions while the Kaua‘i girls marked wins in the JV girls and the varsity Girls divisions.
The Warriors’ JV boys set the pace for the four-team field, slicing through the wind on a 4:33.84 paddle over the half-mile course followed by the Kaua‘i JV boys (4:54.56) and the Kapa‘a JV B team (4:56.59) and the Kapa‘a JV C team (5:04.60).
The Kapa‘a JV Mixed team saw the Warriors‘ B team set the pace, paddling the half-mile course on a 5:05.32 over the A team’s 5:07.73 and followed by the Kaua‘i JV Mixed A team (5:14.39), the Kapa‘a C team (5:16.60) and the Kaua‘i B team (5:30.28).
The JV wins gives Kapa‘a an undefeated record with each team sporting 12 points.
On the varsity arena, the Kapa‘a boys worked the Wailua River half-mile course on a 4.20.06 paddle in the finals, nearly 15 seconds ahead of Waimea (4:34.09) and Kaua‘i (4:39.40). A tighter race in the Varsity Mixed saw Kapa‘a squeeze out the win on a 4:47.31 paddle in the finals over Kaua‘i (4:53.37) and Waimea (4:54.88).
The varsity wins puts Kapa‘a in control of the lead with an undefeated record and 16 points in each of the Mixed and Boys divisions.
Kaua‘i boys hold four points in third place below Waimea’s eight points for second place.
Kaua‘i holds second place in the Varsity Mixed division with seven points followed by Waimea with five points.
Kaua‘i’s JV Girls topped the regatta on a 4:33.84 paddle over three other Kapa‘a teams, the Red Raiders marking four points for the win and hold 12 points in the season.
The Red Raider wahine rebounded from its second-place finish last week to assert itself in the varsity circle, paddling to a first finish on a 4:53.99 run over the half-mile course over Kapa‘a (5:08.63) and Kawaikini (10:13.17), last week’s top varsity girls’ team.
Cumulatively, Kaua‘i girls hold 14 points on the season, still in the lead over Kawaikini, which surged past Kapa‘a with eight points following its win last week. Kapa‘a has six points.
The KIF regatta continues Saturday at the Wailua River with the first heats taking the water at 9 a.m.
