WAILUA — The Kawaikini girls threw a monkey wrench into the Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation paddling regatta Saturday at the Wailua River.
After being beat in the preliminaries by the Kaua‘i A team, Kawaikini rebounded in the finals to edge out the Red Raiders by just one tick of the clock in the finals.
Kawaikini girls rolled up the one-mile course on a 10:29.44 in the preliminaries, getting beat by Kaua‘i on a 10:11.67 paddle.
But the break between the preliminaries and the finals did Kawaikini good, the whiteshirts coming back to improve on its initial sojourn with a 10:13.17 final run, improving its mile run by nearly 16 seconds while Kaua‘i ran the finals at 10:14.22.
The Kapa‘a girls finished third in the division, rolling across the line on a 10:37.07 paddle in the finals.
With the win, Kawaikini jumps to seven points in the standings compared with Kaua‘i, still holding the lead at 10 points, and Kapa‘a girls with four points.
Kaua‘i’s Junior Varsity Girls soothed the upset, continuing its dominance in the JV Girls division, taking the run on a 5:09.57 over Kapa‘a’s A team at 5:30.68. Waimea’s B JV girls (5:20.85) topped the Kapa‘a B team (5:30.48).
Kapa‘a, however, continued its control over the regatta, taking first place in four of the six divisions, including the Boys Varsity, the Varsity Mixed, the Boys JV and the JV Mixed.
The Warrior varsity crew posted a sub-nine-minute mile, crossing at 8:59.67 over Waimea (9:23.43) and Kaua‘i (9:43.78).
Kapa‘a’s Varsity Mixed Team picked up four points to remain undefeated, its Mixed crew crossing at 9:41.89 over Kaua‘i (9:54.76) and Waimea (10:08.75).
Kapa‘a’s A team in the JV division topped the run at 4:24.68 over Kaua‘i (4:44.84) and its Kapa‘a B team (5:04.53).
Kapa‘a’s JV Mixed team topped the division with a 4:46.88 paddle over Kaua‘i’s A team (5:04.26).
With the wins, the Kapa‘a Varsity Boys and Varsity Mixed holds 12 points each in the standings.
Saturday’s races marked the end of the distance races, the first one being a Varsity-only three-mile race followed by two one-mile (varsity) regattas.
This Saturday, the KIF will host a series of three sprint races where the varsity squads race for half mile distances.
The regatta starts at 9 a.m. on the Wailua River.
