By KEVIN JAKAHI
By KEVIN JAKAHI
Tribune-Herald sports writer
The Keaau boys made school history last season, capturing their first Big Island Interscholastic Federation canoe paddling championship. Maybe the Cougar girls or mixed crew can put their names in the record book, too.
All three Keaau crews — boys, girls and mixed — won their respective half-mile races by comfortable margins in a BIIF regatta that featured only the eastside schools Saturday at Hilo Bay, paddling on peaceful waters and overcast conditions.
The Cougar girls didn’t qualify for the Hawaii High School Athletic Association state championships last year, only the boys and mixed crew advanced. That mission will be less arduous because Pahoa isn’t participating this season; the Dagger girls, an annual title contender, are the defending BIIF champs.
Parker, an emerging westside power, pocketed the league’s mixed title last season. The Bulls also made school history when they qualified all three crews to states. However, their mixed crew graduated five seniors.
Keaau’s depth for the girls got a significant boost with sisters Ciena and Netai Jadu, a steersman, who both paddled at Pahoa last year. They’re eligible because the siblings are students at Hawaii Academy of Arts &Science, a charter school.
Even better, Netai Jadu knows how to steer a canoe to a state championship. She was on the Keaukaha girls 15 crew that went unbeaten and won the Hawaii Canoe Racing Association state title over the summer on Kauai.
One member of that six-pack is current Cougar teammate Amy McBride. Their Keaukaha club coach was Grant Kaaua, also the Cougars coach along with his wife Anna Golden Kaaua.
McBride, a three-year starter who started paddling as a freshman, still holds her golden summer memories, hoping some of that HCRA state championship vibe will rub off on her Keaau teammates. The other five are all new faces.
“It’s not easy winning a state championship,” she said. “You’re paddling against the 14 best crews and to not only be on top, but to gap the other teams was amazing. The key is to stick together.
“When we went to states for school (for mixed) we didn’t know what to expect. We weren’t prepared for that competition. We’re doing that this year.”
Keaau’s stroker is sophomore Kahealani Torres, who was on the junior varsity last season, but worked hard to earn the important job that sets the pace for the rest of the paddlers.
“For three weeks over the winter break, I kept pursuing. I got muscle. I paddled, did cardio and ran,” Torres said. “It all fell into place. That’s how I got to be the stroker. I started paddling as a freshman. Before volleyball was my favorite sport. But once I tried it, paddling became my main sport.
“We’re such a family. We all talk to each other. There’s a bond you don’t feel with other sports. We’ve got great team chemistry.”
Role models
It also helps when coaches serve as role models.
McBride has posted a 4.0 grade-point average every school year. She aspires to become a registered nurse, like her coach.
“Coach Anna is an influence for me,” McBride said. “When someone gets injured and seeing how she reacts is amazing. After I graduate and go to college, I still want to assist them and paddle with them at Keaukaha for years after.”
Grant Kaaua is a teacher at Keaau and runs a woodshop class where many of his Cougars build their own paddles. He’s looking to form a student-run company to sell paddles with McBride running the operation, which would be her senior project and a qualification for valedictorian.
“Amy is the real deal,” he said. “She’s on track to be the school valedictorian. She would be in charge of the company. She’s already doing research.
“We’ve created a positive thing on campus and it gives them something positive to focus on. They’re always around each other and take care of each other like family. The main thing we stress is we want them to be good people. Winning is way down the line, but if they do all the things they need to do it all falls into place.”
Reach the stars
Byron Cachola is the only returning boys starter. But he and fellow juniors Trevor Basford and Kainalu Kiyuna joined the Cougars as freshman and hang out together at school. Cachola, also a football and baseball player, credits the built-in chemistry as a vital key to team success.
“Paddling is my passion. I’ll probably do it for the rest of my life,” said Cachola, whose Keaukaha boys 15 crew was fourth at the HCRA state championships. I think we’ve got a lot of potential. We all love the sport. Travis has really come on. He’s our MVP in our crew as our powerhouse (in the No. 4 seat).
“Our goal is to win every single race, go to states and have fun.”
If six paddles hit the water at the same time, only good things can happen.
“Team chemistry helps,” Basford said. “Being friends, it forms a bond and you need six to paddle, not one.”
Both Cachola and Basford are goal-oriented and have figured out their career paths. Cachola, a steersman, wants to become an EMT while Basford plans to attend the University of Alaska Anchorage after graduation and study aviation technology, then head to Florida Pan Am to become a pilot.
His brother Travis Basford was a member of the historic boys crew. He graduated and is now in the Air Force special forces. His younger brother, only a junior, already has his sights set high.
Trevor Basford is in the Civil Air Patrol. Once a month, he’s a co-pilot on a four-set Cessna 172 plane. He recalled how his love of flying started.
“It was career day at middle school and we had pilots come in,” he said. “What better way to reach the stars then to fly.”