Kapaa High dominates Hanalei surf meet, wins four divisions
Kapaa swept four of six divisions at Pine Trees and finished with 20 points, doubling Kauai High’s seven to seize the Hanalei meet.
Kapaa High School turned Pine Trees in Hanalei into a showcase for its depth, winning four of six divisions at the Central Pacific Bank Kauai Interscholastic Federation surfing championships and finishing with 20 club points. Kauai High School was a distant second with seven, followed by Waimea High School with five and Island School with four, a result that underscored how much of Kauai’s school surfing strength now runs through Kapaa.
The winners told the story of a program firing on all cylinders. Hayden Flores led the boys shortboard field with 18.13 points, Elliamna Grubbs took girls shortboard with 9.87, Cougar Carlson won boys longboard, and Addison Murphy added the girls longboard title. Waimea’s Sicily Stein kept her school on the board by winning girls bodyboard, but Kapaa’s balance across shortboard and longboard divisions gave it control from start to finish.
That balance mattered because the meet was more than a one-off contest. The KIF surf season opened at the same Hanalei break on March 28, when nearly 80 surfers filled Pine Trees for the first regional meet and Kapaa won with 19 points. By the time the championship meet returned to the same wave on April 27, Kapaa had already shown it could win in crowded fields, at a site where ocean conditions and coastal safety shape every heat as much as talent does.
The result also carried added weight in a federation with deep roots on Kauai. The KIF was first organized in 1937 with Kauai High School and Waimea High School, and Kapaa High opened in 1946 and joined the federation. Today the KIF includes eight member schools and 29 varsity sports, and the surf league operates in partnership with the Hawaii Surf Foundation as an officially recognized interscholastic sport, building school spirit, healthy lifestyles, mentorship and ocean education.
Kapaa’s title run sent the CPB KIF champions on to the Hawaii High School Athletic Association State Championships at Ho‘okipa Beach Park on Maui on May 1-2. State berths were awarded to the top four boys shortboard finishers, top three boys longboard, top two boys bodyboard, top four girls shortboard, top three girls longboard and top two girls bodyboard, tying Hanalei directly to the next level of competition and reinforcing how Kauai’s surf culture continues to feed the state pipeline.
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