LAHAINA, Maui — Big Island clubs came up big in the "small" divisions of yesterday's Hawaiian Canoe Racing Association State Championship Regatta at Hanaka'o'o Beach.

Despite struggling for most of the regular season on the Big Island, Kai 'Opua won the AA Division yesterday, and Keauhou O Kona won the A Division.

"We didn't have the numbers to work with like we did in years past," Kai 'Opua head coach Mike Atwood said. "But we finished ahead of some really good teams, so we'll take it."

Kai 'Opua is normally one of the state's top clubs, and often challenges for the AAA title, but it did not even win the Big Island championship this year.

"We're accustomed to winning, and to experience what it was like not to win this year on our island kind of motivated us to do something at states," Atwood said.

The AA Division is for clubs that had nine to 17 crews registered for the regatta. All of the top Big Island teams, plus Maui's Kahana and O'ahu's Outrigger were in the AA Division this year.

Kai 'Opua fared well in the youth races, scoring a victory in the boys 16 race and runner-up placings in the girls 12 and girls14 races. They then won the women's freshman and mixed open-6 races to secure the win.

Outrigger placed second in the AA Division with 164 points. Puna, which beat Kai 'Opua for the Big Island championship last month, was third with 152.

The A Division for the state's smallest clubs may be the toughest division to win. There were 56 clubs in yesterday's regatta, and 37 of them were battling in the A Division.

"This is hugely important to us," said Keauhou O Kona athletic director Jonathan Grayson. "It's the first time in a long time that we could even put together eight crews for the states, let alone winning a first-place trophy."

Keauhou O Kona was especially strong in the masters races, winning the men 50 race, placing second in the mixed 55, and third in the men 55 and women 50 races.

"For some reason we have a lot of quality paddlers in the older divisions and that's where we got most of our points," Grayson said. "But a lot of them did better than we expected, so this is a surprise to us."

Keauhou O Kona finished the regatta with 79 points. Wailea, which was the three-time defending state champion of the A Division, placed a close second with 77.

Wailea proved to have the strongest open men's program yesterday, winning the men's sophomore and senior races, and placing fourth in juniors.

The Waikiki Beachboys placed third with 75 points, and proved to have the strongest open women's program. They won the sophomore and junior races, and placed second in seniors.