First finishes by Waimea High School varsity boys and varsity girls teams shook up the standings in the Kauai Interscholastic Federation paddling standings Saturday following the sprints regatta at the Wailua River. Mia Pauletteo, a KIF paddling official, said the
First finishes by Waimea High School varsity boys and varsity girls teams shook up the standings in the Kauai Interscholastic Federation paddling standings Saturday following the sprints regatta at the Wailua River.
Mia Pauletteo, a KIF paddling official, said the long distance races preceding the sprints were effective.
“I think the long distance program that we have this year is working,” Pauletto said in an email. “Saturday was the best high school canoe races I have ever seen on this island. Each event for the A crews was very, very close. I feel the training the crews have done during the long distance races allowed for the caliber of Saturday’s very, very exciting races.”
During the varsity girls race, the Menehune crew paddled across the line on 8 minutes, 28.83 seconds for the one-mile run, nearly a minute ahead of Kapaa (8:29.45), and Kauai (8:30.28).
The results move Kapaa to tie Kauai for the lead in the varsity girls standings with just one more regatta Saturday ahead of the KIF championships. Kapaa and Kauai hold 10 points followed by Waimea with eight points.
Waimea boys powered its canoe to a solid first finish during the finals of the varsity boys’ race, crossing at 7:42.83 over Kapaa (7:49.18) and Kauai (7:52.01).
These results keep Kapaa in the lead of the division with 11 points, followed a point back by Waimea at 10 points and Kauai at seven points.
Kapaa retained its dominance in the varsity mixed division, crossing the short one-mile course on an 8:06.09 paddle followed by Waimea (8:13.65) and Kauai (8:25.13).
Kapaa controls the varsity mixed standings with 16 points followed by Waimea at eight points and Kauai at four points.
During the junior varsity races, Kapaa controlled both the JV girls (4:14.17) less than a second ahead of Kauai (4:14.58), and the JV boys (3:50.44) over Kauai (3:52.85).
Kauai took the JV mixed division on a 4:09.02 paddle when the Kapaa JV crew suffered a huli (capsizing) and crossed at 5:42.36.
The KIF regatta continues with sprints Saturday at the Wailua River starting at 9 a.m.
