Na Kai Ewalu girls 14s win
KAHULUI — When her girls 14 crew requested an extra day of practice last week, Stephanie Franklin knew it would be a special day for Na Kai Ewalu Canoe Club on Saturday at Kahului Harbor.
The John Wilmington III Regatta is always festive for the NKE hosts, but the girls 14 crew of Sade Kauhola, Eliana Acevedo-Hurtado, Amber Carvalho, Lisette Acevedo, Faith Williams and Laakea Hurney made it into a party when they won their quarter-mile race in 2 minutes, 32.00 seconds, just in front of Hawaiian.
It was the first win of the season for any NKE keiki division boat and it catapulted the group into second place in the overall summer standings in the girls 14 race.
“It felt like we took back out power that we lost from last year,” said Hurney, the steersperson who will be a freshman at Kamehameha Schools Maui in the fall. “Last year we placed first a few times in 13s, same crew through. This year we moved up and it was harder, but today we showed everyone that we haven’t changed and we can improve.”
The Maui County Hawaiian Canoe Association receives only two automatic qualifying lanes to the state regatta in August on Kauai.
“It’s very important because before today we were sitting in third place and not even really getting there, but today we’re second seed and I think we’re going to get the first seed,” Hurney said.
Those words were music to the ears of Franklin, who is in her seventh year as keiki coach for Na Kai Ewalu.
“They’ve been battling between Hawaiian and Napili and they’ve gotten second and some thirds, so this is their first win,” Franklin said. “That was huge. We were sitting in second place, one point behind Napili, so now this five points pushed us up into second — now we just have to maintain that.”
Hurney and crew asked their coach for an extra workout before the regatta.
“That was very important,” Hurney said. “That was our only day we’ve ever practiced together. The only time we’ve really ever paddled together as a crew is on race day. We heard that Napili, our rivals, that they were practicing without their coach at the gym. So, we were, like,
‘We want this just as much as them, so we’re going to push even harder if we can.’ So we were like, ‘Coach Steph, can we practice some more?’ Then she made it happen.”
To grab the elusive win on Wilmington day made it that much more special.
“Papa Wilmington was all about the keiki, so to have a keiki crew come out here and represent everything that he stood for speaks volumes for our club,” Franklin said. “We couldn’t be prouder. This was the first gold medal for any keiki crew for Na Kai this season.”
A few minutes after the girls 14 victory, the NKE novice B women made up of Jade Bowman, Jacelyn Barrozo, Bianca Whyte, Cameron Rogers, Rachel Vigliotti and Courtney Reyes won their race in 2:35.73, less than a second in front of Hawaiian.
Franklin said that her ranks in the 18-under age division number about 80 paddlers, the most she has had in her sevenyear career. Amy Peterson, who coaches open women for the club, said it was a busy day under a baking Kahului sun.
“It’s a lot,” Peterson said of the work required of the host club. “We do a big silent auction, so that’s a lot of gathering of items and preparation goes into that. We do a big hale cleanup, cleaning the grounds, cleaning the hale, we decorate the hale with foliage and flowers.
“Then there’s a lot of stuff that I don’t even know that goes on behind the scenes.”
NKE finished sixth among clubs Saturday with 38 points. Hawaiian won the event with 156 points and a new batch of respect for their Kahului Harbor neighbors.
“It’s great to see them battling,” HCC keiki coach Paul Luuwai said. “It’s been a long year already. Our bye week is coming up, so you know we’re looking for to that.”
With only two more regattas on the docket, the race to the finish line for qualifying spots to state has hit hyperdrive.
“Jockeying for positioning is all happening, so yeah, I’m very proud of those girls over there,” Luuwai said of the NKE 14s. “They ‘re more hungry than my girls today — they wanted it more than us. … It was a close race and hats off to Na Kai, it’s nice to see our neighbors do well like that.”
Hawaiian will venture to Kahoolawe for the 35th year in a row today, taking 45 keiki paddlers for four days and nights of work to rehabilitate the island. HCC entered the day with 29 lanes out of 42 races qualified for the state regatta. They left with 29.
“We do a little more strategy for crews that aren’t qualified yet,” Luuwai said. “But it’s no week off — we’re pounding.” ■ Robert Collias is at rcollias @mauinews.com.