Seabury Hall's girls varsity crew hugs after winning Saturday at Ka Lae Pohaku to clinch the MIL title. -- The Maui News / MATTHEW THAYER photo
KIHEI — The Seabury Hall girls paddlers had one thing in mind on Saturday at Maui Interscholastic League regatta No. 5: join their mixed and boys classmates as champions.
The Spartans’ Keala Bouwens, Kahea Haupu, Annalise Lambert, Kekua Richards, Amber Proctor and Tatum Hoshino edged rival King Kekaulike by a little more than a second to claim the girls MIL title at Ka Lae Pohaku.
Seabury Hall finished their half-mile race in 4 minutes, 16.91 seconds, while King Kekaulike crossed the finish line in 4:18.17. Both teams entered the final regatta of the league season with two wins apiece.
“It feels so good to win,” said Proctor, the only senior in the canoe. “And I give (King Kekaulike) so much respect and I’m proud of them, too — they paddle summertime with me, I’ve known these girls and they come as the hardest working people I know.”
Certainly, there is a large possibility that these two will see each other at the state regatta next Saturday at Keehi Lagoon on Oahu, perhaps in the final. Both teams were within a boat length the entire race Saturday in pristine conditions.
Seabury Hall's girls varsity crew paddles to a win. -- The Maui News / MATTHEW THAYER photo
“Perfect conditions, exactly what a paddler looks for, hardly any wind,” Proctor said. “I think that we as a team just pushed each other and pushed ourselves beyond our limits and it paid off in the end.”
After skipping the first two regattas of the season, the Molokai girls finished third for the third week in a row to grab the last of three state qualifying spots for the MIL.
Each crew counts its best three finishes for the final tally of placements. The Seabury Hall boys and mixed crews wrapped up their MIL titles last week with their third wins of the season.
Baldwin and Kamehameha Maui joined Seabury Hall as boys state qualifiers, while Baldwin and King Kekaulike were the mixed qualifiers behind the Spartans.
Seabury Hall coach Paul Luuwai was overjoyed to complete the sweep — the Spartans last accomplished the feat in 2017. The girls crew came up 3.45 seconds short of Na Alii last week.
“What a race and we had so much errors to correct,” Luuwai said. “The video tells a thousand words, so we’re, like, ‘Are you kidding?’ We totally fell on our heads last week and our top stroker was out — she had a throat infection. … She came back, Keala Bouwens has missed the last two (regattas) and she is a key in our boat.
“The girls persevered, Kekaulike is a great team –five of those girls are my summer girls (for Hawaiian Canoe Club), so my hats off to them. I love them to death as well.”
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