The Kane'ohe kids were once again the stars of the Na 'Ohana O Na Hui Wa'a Championship Regatta yesterday at Ke'ehi Lagoon.

For the fifth consecutive year, youth paddlers led the Kane'ohe Canoe Club to the Hui Wa'a title.

"During the season, I try to give all the kids a chance to race," Kane'ohe head coach Clint Anderson said. "But when it comes down to the end, I put in the stronger kids. That's been working for us the last couple years."

The five-year run of championships is the second-longest in history of the Hui Wa'a organization (Lokahi won 12 in a row from 1987-98).

"We ask a lot of our kids, but especially this year," Anderson said. "Our numbers (of paddlers) was down, so a lot of the kids had to paddle two races today."

Kane'ohe finished the 39-race regatta with 75 points to win the AAA division for big clubs. Manu O Ke Kai was second with 62, and Na Keiki O Ka Mo'i was third with 55.

Kane'ohe's youth paddlers accounted for 10 race wins and 55 points in the 13 youth races. In essence, Kane'ohe's kids alone out-scored 15 of the other clubs in the regatta.

The Kane'ohe youth crews that emerged victorious were: girls 12, boys 12, mixed 12, girls 13, boys 13, girls 15, boys 15, girls 16, boys 16 and boys 18.

Their performance was crucial because Kane'ohe did not win any adult races.

"There's no cliques, nothing like that, in this club," said Aulani Saizon, who paddled on the winning girls 15 and girls 16 crews. "We're all one big happy family and we all do what we can to help the club win."

She said many of the youth paddlers prepared for double-duty by putting in extra time at practices in recent weeks.

"It's hard because as soon as you finish one race, you have to go right back out for the next one," Saizon said. "I was dying when I had to go back for my second race, but we just keep pushing each other."

The girls 16 and mixed 12 crews for Kane'ohe completed undefeated Hui Wa'a seasons yesterday.

"We know we have to score points for the club," said Kapua Saizon, who paddled on the winning boys 12 and mixed 12 crews. "It makes me feel like I have to keep working hard."

Behind the strength of its kids, Kane'ohe jumped to an early lead in the regatta and then held off a late charge from Manu O Ke Kai.

"We've been getting second almost every week," Manu O Ke Kai head coach Randy Sanborn said. "We do what we can, but Kane'ohe's kids had them running away. I'm happy we came this close."

Manu O Ke Kai won four races, including the prestigious men's senior race. The crew of Greg Wright, Johnny Mack, Tomas Schlotman, Glenn Williams, Robert Pactol and Moku Sanborn completed the 1 1/2-mile course in 11 minutes, 23.05 seconds to edge Na Keiki O Ka Mo'i by 1.89 seconds.

The senior race is considered the top division of the regatta.

"I cannot complain," Sanborn said. "This was probably our best all-around season ever. We're satisfied with our season, even though we wanted to win at least one regatta. Maybe we just have to get more kids next time."

Despite dominating the Hui Wa'a competition all season, Kane'ohe will not contend against the other big clubs — such as six-time defending state champion Hawaiian Canoe Club — at the Aug. 4 state championship regatta at Hanalei Bay, Kaua'i.

Anderson said Kane'ohe will likely enter a lower division (at the state championship regatta, there will be four divisions).

"We cannot go up against the big dogs," he said. "We're going to put our kids in there and see how they do, but we're not going to take all the adults."

Na Keiki O Ka Mo'i placed third yesterday, and completed its season. The club announced it will not participate in the state regatta for a variety of reasons.

"Financial reasons ... and our (koa) canoe is being repaired right now and we didn't want to borrow," assistant coach Danon Ka'aekuahiwi said. "It was a hard decision, but we'll just wait 'til next year."

The Waikiki Beachboys scored 48 points and won the AA division for medium-sized clubs. Similar to Kane'ohe's kids, the Beachboys once again received a dominating performance from its female paddlers.

They won the women's novice B, novice A, freshman, sophomore and senior races.

The victory in the prestigious women's senior race was the most impressive of the day.

The Beachboys crew of Kelsa Teeters, Andrea Messer, Dana Gorecki, Jennifer Polcer, Raye Powell and Susan Brown completed the 1 1/2-mile course in 12:22.31. The rest of the field was way behind, with Lokahi placing second in 13:51.26.

"We were moving pretty fast, which is good to see at this time of the year," Gorecki said. "But we've been tracking the times of some of the other (organizations) and we know we still have work to do."

The Beachboys won the women's senior race at the state regatta for the first time in club history last year.

"The focus is on to that, definitely," Gorecki said. "The next two weeks is about finding the right combination and getting faster."

Six Waikiki Beachboys crews went undefeated this season: women novice B, women novice A, men novice A, women freshman, women sophomore and women senior.

Also, Beachboys head coach Sean Monahan was named the Hui Wa'a Coach of the Year.

Koa Kai placed second in the AA division with 25 points, and 'Alapa Hoe was third with 20.

In the A division for small clubs, Kalihi Kai and Ka Mamalahoe each scored 19 points to tie for first place. Kalihi Kai's Noe Fox was named the club representative of the year.

Other crews to go undefeated during the season were Koa Kai in the men's 50-older division, Manu O Ke Kai in the mixed 60-older division, and 'Alapa Hoe in the girls 18 division.

The top three crews from each race division will represent Hui Wa'a at the state regatta.

The O'ahu Hawaiian Canoe Racing Association Championship Regatta will run today at Ke'ehi Lagoon.

Reach Dayton Morinaga at dmorinaga@honoluluadvertiser.com.