Paula Stuhr The Times Coach Richard Hagler gives last-minute instructions to Chestatee Middle School students Leah Kopietz and Anna Crawford before they compete in the C2 competition at the Middle School Spring Championship on Saturday at the Lake Lanier Olympic Center at Clarks Bridge Park.   Paula Stuhr The Times West Hall Middle School student Cameron Fessler paddles to first place in the K1 race at the Middle School Spring Championship on Saturday at Lake Lanier Olympic Center at Clarks Bridge Park.

Just because the paddlers and rowers were a little smaller than average, that didn't mean that Saturday's Hall County Middle School Championships at the Lake Lanier Olympic Center at Clarks Bridge was by any means a small event.

The fifth annual competition, hosted by the Lanier Canoe and Kayak Club, drew more than 160 middle-school-aged athletes, including two home school teams, and culminated a six-week season in the Richardson Racing League.

The season, which started with several teams just trying to get used to their boats and being on the water, is designed to introduce young participants to the sport of canoe and kayak racing and turn young novices into serious competitors.

Robert Lott, a member of the 1999 Junior World team from the LCKC said, "It is the life-blood of the program at the LCKC."

By the results of Saturday's race, the LCKC may have found some future stars at North Hall Middle.

The North Hall Middle School's team A won first place overall with 341 team points, followed closely by the Home School team in second place with 332 points and West Hall Middle in third place with 317.5 points.

North Hall's team A had seven first-place finishes out of the 53 contested races.

"We had a very strong team this year," third-year North Hall coach Jeff Eden said.

"So I knew we had a good chance to finish either first or second."

As well as hotly-contested races during the championships, 40 local middle school athletes were named to the Richardson Racing Team based on paddling skills and interest in the sport.

Once part of the team, each competitor will take part in five special training sessions hosted by LCKC coaches Guy and Shelley Wilding.

Following completion of the camp, each member will have the opportunity to join the Lanier Canoe & Kayak Club Racing Team.

"These athletes are the perfect age, and are where the basis of our team comes from," Hagler said.

"We want to continue to have more kids experience the success that others have."

In the 200-meter mini kayak girls seventh-grade race, Katelyn Dill (1:05.57) picked up North Hall's first victory of the day.

For the sixth grade boys North Hall won, as well, with Jase Comaux finishing first in 1:07.74.

North Hall also enjoyed success amongst the novice competitors, winning the trainer race in both boys and girls competition.

Jackson Kearns won the eighth-grade, 200 trainer race, finishing in 55.14 seconds.

Laura Lee Bohannon captured the gold in the seventh-grade girls race, finishing in 1:04.88, and Britanny Mathews won the eighth grade in 1:06.92.

The trainer is an entry-level boat used for acclimation to the sport. The trainer is enclosed similar to a mini kayak.

Dill and Bohannon competed together in the 200-meter C-2 (two-person canoe) and captured gold by 10 seconds over West Hall, with a time of 1:20.38.

The Trojans also captured the gold in a less- familiar discipline called a scupper.

The scupper is an entry-level boat which is best described as an ultra-stable kayak.

Yet however new the boat was to its riders, the scupper is not a new discipline to the LCKC, as it was the original craft started with the Junior Olympic team.

"Everyone on the team (North Hall) did a wonderful job, and showed great team chemistry," Eden said. "Everyone on the team was there for one another."

North Hall's three-person 200-meter scupper team of Chelsea Smith, Libby Fongheiser and Samantha Murray earned gold in 1:22.95.

Eden added, "the coaching of LCKC coaches Guy and Shelley Wilding has made all the difference."

The highlighted event of the afternoon was the dragon boat race, which was won by the Home School team with a tournament-best time of 1:08.99.

The dragon boat is a traditional, Asian-influenced craft that requires 20 paddlers, one person to steer and one person to beat the boat's drum pack as it maneuvers across the 200-meter course.

The dragon boat Challenge is also popular because it allows the entire team to be able to race at the same time.

"The boats are beautiful, and (these) are highly contested races," LCKC executive director Connie Hagler said. "It's something of a family effort with these races."

The Home School team, coached by Wanda Blackburn, was anchored in its second place finish with individual victories from Alex Cook, Cannie Ash, Zach Mills, Zach Robertson, Hezekiah Blackburn, Holly Perkins and Jared McArthur.

They also captured the C-5 boys gold with McArthur, Robertson, J. Blackburn, Mills and H. Blackburn in 1:09.83.

Mills and J. Blackburn won the C-2 eighth grade boys race in 1:14.89, while Jocelyn Engheben and Holly Perkins won the sixth grade C-2 gold in 1:29.56.

West Hall managed individual victories from Molly Burgess, Cameron Fessler, Gabby Panasiuk, Elijah Murawski, Gabriella Panasiuk and Morgan Smith.

The final standings for the teams were North Hall, team A, first; Home School, second; West Hall Middle, third; Davis Middle, fourth; Gainesville Middle, fifth; North Hall, team B, sixth; Chestatee Middle, seventh; South Hall Middle, eighth; Geckos (also a home school team), ninth.

After each of these teams' first taste of success on the water, the LCKC may have just discovered a new crop of rising stars on the shores of Lake Lanier.