The top-to-bottom strength of the Maui County Hawaiian Canoe Association shone brightly in Hilo Bay on Saturday at the Hawaiian Canoe Racing Association state championships.

Hawaiian Canoe Club, the 37-time MCHCA and 15-time overall state champion, finished second to Oahu power Lanikai by just three points in the AAAA Division. It was 157 points back to third-place Puna Canoe Club.

“We lost by three points, it came down to the last race of the day,” HCC keiki coach and statistician Paul Luuwai said via phone Saturday night. “Yeah, it was super cool. We were up by 40, then we’re down by 10, then we’re up by eight, then we’re (tied) … going into the last race of the day and we lost by three.

“It was hard to keep track because the points were swinging back and forth all day. We did great, man. I was hoping it would be that close, but I had no idea it would be that close. I thought we’d lose by 15, 16, that was my estimation.”

Wailea Canoe Club won the A Division title for clubs that enter six or fewer crews — the small club based at the south end of Kalama Park in Kihei scored 62 points and won despite being disqualified for interference in the final race of the day. Healani Canoe Club was just two points behind Wailea in the division standings.

WCC men were impressive, winning state crowns in sophomore and junior, while being second in freshman and senior.

“Sometimes when you’re trying to win the regatta … even at a smaller scale, it’s not always the fairest decisions you have to make, right? But you have to make the decisions that’s best for the team and try to spread out guys to either win or be competitive in certain events,” veteran Wailea paddler Kekoa Cramer said Sunday. “We tried to stack the freshman, sophomore, junior, senior — we’re pretty happy with how we did.

“We always want to try to win them all, but we got close.”

Napili was second in the AA Division (seven to 12 crews) and Kihei was third in the AAA Division (13-20 crews).

Lanikai won 10 state titles on the 44-race slate, while HCC won six — sophomore women, freshman women, men novice A, boys 13, mixed 12 and men 70.

Pia Aluli, Nick Wendall De Vera, Lou Dionese, Harold Ferris, Jerry Jameson and Biggie Lara started the day off well for Hawaiian in the second race of the day, winning their men 70 half-mile race.

HCC’s Jackson Cockett-Kanoa, Mahina Cosare, La’akea Elaban-Manuwa, Pualililehua Kahaloa, Lehiwa Lani-Montira and Noah Lopez won the mixed 12 title four races later.

Hawaiian’s boys 13s — Maiola Awana, Austin Kahele-Hoyohoy, Moae Miranda, Matthew Rabanes, Anthony Sardine Jr. and Chuka Smith — won two races later, giving HCC three state crowns in the first eight events.

HCC won the men’s novice A with Juan Hernandez, Michael Holley, Derrin Johnson, Bazel Potratz, Daniel Reisinger and Teddy Zabel in the boat.

The HCC women won the freshman and sophomore titles. Kristin Drost, Lisa Fanning, Tiare Lawrence, Kaulu Luuwai, Kelsey Nae’ole and Lauren Spalding were on the freshman crew, and Drost was joined by Arianna Gerry, Danielle Kuck, Hiilei Luuwai, Tina Myers and Mikiala Puaa-Freitas on the sophomore crew.

Paul Luuwai said the defending champions from Lanikai were just too tough, despite the big day from Hawaiian.

“You just have to tip your hat to Lanikai,” he said. “They’ve amassed a massive athletic group they have there, I mean, they’ve got some specimens over there. Like legends in my age group alone. Across the board, they’re stacked.”

Luuwai said his club showed out, peaking on the biggest day of the summer.

“We tried really hard,” he said. “We got medals going all the way across the board. We just tried our best, we gave it our best effort and were three points short, almost right there.”

Wailea won the men sophomore race with Kekoa Cramer, Dane Dudoit, Kevin Dudoit, Triston Kaho’okele-Santos, Nalu Sampson and Kekoa Santos.

Kingi Gilbert, Felipe Gomes, Noa Kamalu, Sig Konohia, Joshua Kekupa’a Nae’ole and Austin Talley made up the crew for Wailea’s state champion junior men.

“We’ve always been a small club and we’re pretty much in that division every year, I think only a couple years we’ve been in the AA,” Cramer said. “We still had a lot of quality out there and we went there with intentions of trying to win and lucky enough we did. We were lucky enough to borrow Waikiki Surf Club’s canoe and Iolani’s canoe, so that was nice of them. Yeah, we were happy with the results.

“As always, we strive to be one of the best men’s divisions in the state and obviously there’s Lanikai, Keauhou or the Red Bull guys and that’s our competition. We understand that. … For me it’s been 25 years, so about three or four different batches of guys that have come and gone — there’s a few of us still around.”

On the final overall scoreboard, Lanikai scored 466 points, while HCC had 463.

Other Maui clubs competing on Saturday included Na Kai Ewalu, which tied for fifth in the AA Division, two spots in front of Lae’ula O Kai; Lahaina was 15th in AA; and Kahana’s single crew entered did not score a point.

NKE’s mixed novice B crew of Sunny Amico, Tash Ash, Christian Delatori-Maneafaiga, Culver Haynes, Hanna Lilley and Cameron McElroy won their race.

Lae’ula O Kai’s boys 15 crew of Matahi Atay, Kaiohu Eleneki-Alves, Kamole Gilliland, Bode Golberg, Ka’iwa Ho and Noweo Kekauoha-Schultz captured the state crown.

In another very impressive finish for Maui, the Kihei six of Sandy Carvalho, Suzanne Conlon, Jen Edwards, Allison Lee, Julie Shoup and Michele Willmering won the 1 1/2-mile women’s senior race in 12:47.58, three seconds in front of Lanikai.

“I was really impressed, especially the upper division men and women of Maui — Hawaiian took freshmen, sophomore, Kihei won senior,” Cramer said. “Mix in the other results we had, it’s pretty cool to see Maui strong like that.”

* Robert Collias is at rcollias@mauinews.com.