WAILUA — The Kapaa High School varsity boys and mixed teams kept their undefeated records intact with wins Saturday during the Kauai Interscholastic Federation Paddling Regatta at the Wailua River. With the KIF Championships looming Saturday, the Kapaa boys team
WAILUA — The Kapaa High School varsity boys and mixed teams kept their undefeated records intact with wins Saturday during the Kauai Interscholastic Federation Paddling Regatta at the Wailua River.
With the KIF Championships looming Saturday, the Kapaa boys team captured top honors on a paddle of 3 minutes, 50 seconds following a 3:44.38 preliminary paddle.
Second place honors went to the Waimea A team on a 4:04.83 paddle with Kauai’s team disqualifying after finishing in the wrong lane.
The win gives the Warrior men an accumulated 20 points heading into the championship with Waimea holding nine points and Kauai rounding out the board with five points.
The mixed division races also went to the undefeated Warrior squad who crossed the line on a 4:07.66 paddle ahead of Waimea who came across on a 4:16.19 run over the half-mile course.
The second place finish was settled by less than a second as the Menehune slipped across the line by .56 second ahead of Kauai (4:16.76) to settle in with 10 points in the standings followed by Kauai with five points for third place. Kapaa, defending champions after winning all three divisions last year, leads the division with 20 points for its undefeated record.
The competitive event of the regatta spotlighted the Girls Division where Kapaa bumped the Kauai squad during last week’s regatta.
“This is a big race for us,” said Lori Parraga, the Kauai coach during practice earlier in the week. “We had kids traveling during the winter break, but everyone should be back this week. A win would put the girls in a very good position.”
The excitement continued this week as the Warrior women, battling at the turn, came up strong on the top end to cross ahead of Kauai on a 4:21.02 run to Kauai’s 4:21.43 paddle.
But the Raiders recovered for the finals, topping the event nearly a minute ahead of Kapaa with its final run of 4:23.64, Kapaa crossing the finals at 4:24.51. Waimea placed third with a 4:33.84 run.
With the win, Kauai, who captured four of the six events Saturday, improves to 18 points in the girls division standings with Kapaa girls challenging at 12 points heading into the championships where each event counts for double points.
Waimea rounds out the girls standings with a point in third place.
More excitement dominated the junior varsity races where Kauai swept the girls, boys and mixed divisions.
Making its move just ahead of the turn flags, the Kauai JV girls squad slipped wide at the turn, Kapaa coming out inches ahead of the Red Raider squad.
The Kauai girls dug deep to take the race on the top end, crossing on a 4:26.39 run, nearly eight seconds ahead of Kapaa who stopped the clocks on a 4:34.34 run.
Kauai junior varsity boys handily controlled its division, crossing the half-mile run on a 3:59.90 run over Kapaa’s 4:07.05 paddle.
Kauai junior varsity also topped the mixed division run, crossing nearly six seconds ahead of Kapaa on a 4:08.27 run to Kapaa’s 4:14.53. Waimea finished the division third on a 4:17.38 paddle.
With its sweep of the JV races, Kauai JV girls lead the standings on 16 points to Kapaa’s eight points.
The JV boys race is deadlocked with Kauai and Kapaa both holding 12 points heading into the championships Saturday.
Kauai leads the JV mixed division with 14 points followed by Kapaa and Waimea deadlocked at seven points apiece.
The paddles hit the water starting at 9 a.m. at Wailua River Saturday as the KIF hosts the championship regatta.
• Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 245-0453 or dfujimoto@ thegardenisland.com.
