WAILUA — Kapa‘a High School will send two paddling teams and Kaua‘i High School will send one team to the Hawai‘i High School Athletic Association state championships. The teams representing the Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation were determined during the KIF Paddling
WAILUA — Kapa‘a High School will send two paddling teams and Kaua‘i High School will send one team to the Hawai‘i High School Athletic Association state championships.
The teams representing the Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation were determined during the KIF Paddling Championships, Saturday at the Wailua River.
Kapa‘a varsity boys and Kapa‘a varsity mixed teams topped those divisions with 18 and 24 points, respectively, the varsity boys standings being determined by just a single point.
Kaua‘i varsity girls will be representing that division following the team being named KIF champions with 24 points.
Kaua‘i topped the junior varsity girls and mixed divisions, those teams finishing the season with 22 and 20 points, respectively. Kapa‘a topped the JV boys division with 18 points.
The race started with strong winds blowing out of the south, but those conditions diminished later in the afternoon, giving the varsity boys clean conditions for its race.
Kaua‘i boys dominated the river in the preliminary run, edging out Kapa‘a on a 3:43.27 paddle over the 1/2-mile course. Kapa‘a crossed in second at 3:45.59.
But during the finals, the order was reversed when Kapa‘a, cruising in Lane 1, finished with its best time of the day, crossing at 3:36.55 to Kaua‘i, racing in Lane 3, crossing at 3:42.63. Waimea finished third at 3:57.14.
Kapa‘a’s varsity mixed team dominated the season and Saturday’s Championships had no surprises, the Warriors crossing at 3:55.85 to Waimea’s 4:02.99 second place finish. Kaua‘i finished third at 4:08.06. But Waimea was disqualified in the finals when its team buried the flag at the turn, giving the second place to Kaua‘i.
Kaua‘i’s varsity girls also dominated the season, ending the finals of that division by bettering its preliminary paddle of 4:08.04. The final paddle crossed at 4:07.28.
Kaua‘i’s JV girls topped the field on a 4:26.98 over Kapa‘a’s A team (4:34.46) and Waimea (5:05.14).
Kaua‘i’s JV mixed team topped its field on a 4:14.14 run, just .27 second faster than Kapa‘a (4:14.41). Waimea finished the division at 4:30.30.
Kaua‘i’s JV boys finished with the best paddle of the day at 4:09.20 to Kapa‘a’s 4:18.93, but the final award went to Kapa‘a’s team with 20 points to Kaua‘i’s 16 points. Waimea did not field a JV boys team this season.
•Dennis Fujimoto, photographer and staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 253) or dfujimoto@kauaipubco.com.
