Na Alii girls, Spartans boys and mixed crews claim MIL titles
KIHEI — Over the last three years, the Maui Interscholastic League has been among the most dominant leagues in the state in outrigger canoe paddling.
In the boys, girls and mixed finals at state since 2016, the MIL owns four state titles, four second-place finishes and four third-place showings.
It appears the league will send three more solid champions to this year’s state regatta at Keehi Lagoon on Feb. 2.
The King Kekaulike High School girls, and Seabury Hall boys and mixed crews all won their third regatta title in three tries, clinching their respective MIL titles on Saturday at Ka Lae Pohaku.
Na Alii’s girls have just one senior on the crew and won their final Saturday by the widest margin among the varsity races, approximately four boat lengths.
“It’s amazing. I love it,” Kamakana Kawa’a, one of four juniors on the King Kekaulike girls crew, said after the race.
Na Alii finished in a time of 4 minutes, 18.24 seconds, well ahead of runner-up Seabury Hall (4:34.38).
The King Kekaulike girls finished third at state last year.
“We’re hoping to win it,” Kawa’a said. “We’re going to work as hard as we can and do the best that we can. Today felt amazing, I’m so lucky to have a great crew.”
Kawa’a was joined on the girls championship crew by Olivia Delaney, Sarah Emmsley, Skyler Sands, Reyann Mau-Bagay and Rose Delaney.
“It feels really good, we’re all really fortunate this year that we blend really well together,” Rose Delaney said. “We’re all on the same level mentally and physically, so we all go out and just do our best.”
Perhaps Nanea Andrade shows just how deep the Seabury Hall program goes — she is a senior who was a B mixed paddler last year.
Saturday in calm waters, she was the steersperson for the Spartans’ mixed crew that won in 4:07.82, edging King Kekaulike by 2.27 seconds.
Seabury Hall has won the last three state mixed titles.
“It feels so good, we trained so hard for this, two weeks of hard training during winter break — we deserve this,” said Andrade, who is also a standout softball player, although the school did not field an MIL team in that sport last year.
“We gave it all, we ripped it out, we left everything out there,” Andrade said. “We don’t regret anything.”
Robert Gibbons, Reilly O’Connor, Kaila Medeiros, Ben Swartz and Amber Proctor made up the rest of the Seabury Hall mixed crew on Saturday.
There are still two MIL regattas to go where the second and third spots in each division will be decided — each crew counts their best three results out of the five regattas. Last year, the league got three spots in each division, but the representation numbers have not been released yet this year.
Devin Palazzotto, Noah Garcia and Ryder Tremble joined Gibbons, O’Connor and Swartz on the boys championship boat that crossed in 3:53.66.
“It felt great,” Gibbons said. “Definitely in the prelims and the heats, we felt like it might be a little iffy in the final, but today it felt good. We definitely had a few close races in other regattas, and today was close with the King K boys. Really close.”
Another piece of evidence that the MIL is deep across the board is the fact that Kamehameha Maui won the league mixed title last year before finishing second to Seabury at state.
“Our league is pretty competitive — the competition in the MIL definitely makes us better,” Gibbons said.
* Robert Collias is at rcollias@mauinews.com
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MIL REGATTA NO. 3
Saturday’s Results
At Ka Lae Pohaku
Varsity
Girls–1. King Kekaulike (Olivia Delaney, Sarah Emmsley, Skyler Sands, Reyann Mau-Bagay, Rose Delaney, Kamakana Kawa’a) 4:18.24, 2. Seabury Hall 4:34.38, 3. Lahainaluna 4:34.98, 4. Molokai 4:44.56, 5. Maui High 4:56.75, 6. Kihei Charter 4:59.77.
Boys–1. Seabury Hall (Robert Gibbons, Reilly O’Conner, Devin Palazattoo, Ben Swartz, Noah Garcia, Ryder Tremble) 3:53.66, 2. Baldwin 3:58.68, 3. Kamehameha Maui 4:00.21, 4. King Kekaulike 4:00.76, 5. Maui High 4:16.80, 6. Kihei Charter 4:17.44.
Mix–1. Seabury Hall (Robert Gibbons, Reilly O’Conner, Kaila Medeiros, Ben Swartz, Amber Proctor, Nanea Andrade) 4:07.82, 2. King Kekaulike 4:10.09, 3. Kamehameha Maui 4:17.69, 4. Molokai 4:23.60, 5. Lahainaluna 4:25.41, 6. Kihei Charter 4:33.57.
JV
Girls–1. King Kekaulike (Zyra-Lynn Mokiao, Te’a Domingo, Aurora Morales, Nanea Souza, Julianna Romero, Emalani Schultz) 2:09.42, 2. Kamehameha Maui 2:10.13, 3. Kihei Charter 2:12.55, 4. Maui Prep 2:14.65, 5. Baldwin 2:18.73, 6. Maui High 2:20.36, 7. Seabury Hall 2:21.92.
Boys–1. Kamehameha Maui (Teancum Aiwohi, Naleikaehukai Molitau, Kanai Fisher, Keolapono Keahi, Matthew Kaimiola, Coian Hett) 1:46.26, 2. Lahainaluna 1:47.65, 3. Seabury Hall 1:50.82, 4. Baldwin 1:54.19, 5. Kihei Charter 1:58.26, 6. Maui High 2:15.89.
Mix–1. Kamehameha Maui (Teancum Aiwohi, Naleikaehukai Molitau, Kanai Fisher, Makamae Naleieha, Cassidy Hanano, Kacey Pastor) 1:53.70, 2. Lahainaluna 1:56.91, 3. King Kekaulike 1:58.83, 4. Baldwin 1:59.52, 5. Seabury Hall 2:00.24, 6. Kihei Charter 2:02.68, 7. Maui High 2:22.63.