Kathy Erwin has come to judge the changing sports seasons based on activity in her back yard.

The co-head coach of the Le Jardin Academy’s kayaking program — which holds the majority of its training sessions at her home — will have some peace and quiet after the Interscholastic League of Honolulu kayaking campaign wrapped up on Saturday.

However, Erwin does not mind the activity. For the second consecutive year, the hard work put in by her athletes and fellow coaches netted the school a varsity kayaking championship — the first such pieces of hardware in school history.

Le Jardin scored 24 points and held off Punahou (45 points) and Mid-Pacific (59 points) to claim its second straight ILH crown. Saturday’s event featured championship races in both the 250-meter sprint and 2,000-meter long-distance events. Schools earned points based on their top three finishers in each race, with the higher finishers earning fewer points.

While Le Jardin did not come away with individual gold, the team’s consistency in both races resulted in an overall victory. Taylor Hopkins, Mike Dowsett and Tanner Gillespie took second, third and fourth in the distance race, while teammates Derek Ruebenstahl and Ted Marr finished second and third in the sprint event.

"It was really great, the group of seniors are really nice people, and training together and helping our school win its second varsity championship was really great," said Marr, one of the team’s six graduating seniors.

"It’s really exciting because after joining the kayaking team, we did well, and it was a lot of fun. I never really expected to go anywhere with kayaking, but as the training progressed, I got better and my teammates got better, and we eventually won."

The small Kailua school was founded 50 years ago and served children through elementary school until the institution built and opened its high school campus eight years ago. According to Erwin, the kayaking team was added a year after the high school opened — when the inaugural class reached the sophomore level.

"Over the years, our school didn’t have a high school, so I saw our kids go on to other schools," Erwin said.

One such example is found in Le Jardin’s co-head coach Brandon Woods, who attended Le Jardin early on, but went to high school at Mid-Pacific. The 2003 Owls graduate finished his prep career as a dominant individual champion, and has gone on to compete at national and international kayaking competitions.

The Bulldogs have overcome the usually daunting learning curve experienced by a new contender in ILH competition. The kayaking program has now won the junior varsity championship for three straight years in addition to the two consecutive varsity titles.

And, thanks to an increasing school population and interest in the sport, Le Jardin is looking to field a girls varsity program next season.

"For a small team we have surprising depth," Erwin said. "We’ve been very fortunate. We are pulling kids from local canoe clubs, so many of them are already experienced watermen. Most of them start as freshmen, so it’s a wonderful foundation."

Erwin concedes that at a small school, the idea of having such "depth" would normally be unheard of. However, she credits her athlete’s exposure to the sport and others — including canoe paddling, swimming and water polo — with aiding the program’s quick rise to the top.

Kayaking is somewhat unique in that there are no divisions to separate large and small schools. The sport currently involves only Interscholastic League of Honolulu members, and allows schools such as Le Jardin to compete with established schools such as Punahou, ‘Iolani and Kamehameha.

"Being the only ILH school on the Windward side, and having the two top canoe clubs in Lanikai and Kailua, this side is just so focused on water sports," Erwin said. "But, it’s an island community and all the schools have talented kids, but because we’re smaller, the kids get a lot of time practicing and competing from the beginning. In the bigger schools, some kids might have to sit out some races, while our athletes can compete in every race.

"It seems funny to say that such a small team has depth, but we really do. Punahou also has a strong team, and Mid-Pac will do really well next year, so it’s good to see the competition getting stronger."

Stronger overall competition can be linked to the efforts of the Hawaii Canoe and Kayak Team president and new ILH race director Shelley Oates-Wilding. The former Olympic kayaker posted her best finish in the 1996 Summer Games in Atlanta, finishing eighth in the K-4 500-meter kayak event. Oates-Wilding has the experience and vision to guide young kayakers in their pursuit of success at the highest level.

The world champion kayaker and canoe paddler has helped student-athletes continue their endeavors on the water with the goal of allowing the prep kayakers to continue on to national and international success.

She has turned the ILH season into a feeder system for the HCKT where kayakers can continue to train year round while competing for scholarships, as well as individual and team championships. Kayakers are also coveted by colleges and universities with crew rowing programs, and the exposure allowed by the HCKT program often nets student-athletes substantial scholarships.