The Hawaii-born Newton needed all of two years in a kayak before making the 1992 Olympic team, stunning the international paddling community. He and fellow Hui Nalu paddler Mike Harbold finished eighth in the K-2 in Barcelona.

Four years and countless strokes later, Newton has a new partner and a new attitude. Experience will do that.

"Making the Olympic team the first time was real exciting but even I was surprised," said the 1988 Our Redeemer Lutheran graduate. "Maybe I didn't have the confidence I should have had because I wasn't expecting to be there. This time, I feel like I have a lot more experience and confidence.

"It's the first time my partner (John Mooney) and I are racing together so I can't tell exactly what our chances are. We want to make the finals and, once we do that, I think we have a chance to get into the medal placings."

The U.S. Canoe/Kayak Team press kit predicts that the Newton-Mooney pair, competing at 1,000 meters, has one of America's best shots at a medal. Newton became the first American to win three kayak medals in the Pan American Games last year and Mooney is the defending world sprint champion at 200 meters.

"I like being in the doubles," said Newton, a silver medalist in the K-1 at the recent Hemispheric Qualifying Games. "I've always liked team boats. They're fun to train in.

"I think to paddle in the K-1 at this level, I would need more experience. For doubles, I feel really good about the way I'm paddling."

Despite being born in Hawaii, Newton didn't take up paddling until high school. He said he dreamed of going to the Olympics as a youngster but didn't think there was a sport that could take him to the Games.

"Once I got into paddling, Kala Kukea got me into flatwater boats," Newton said of the late Hui Nalu steersman and Hawaii Canoe/Kayak Team coach. "Then I met (HCKT's) Billy Whitford, and he told me Traci Phillips (a three-time Olympic kayaker from Hawaii) was on the Olympic team. I thought, 'I can do it, too.'

"The first time I got in a (flatwater) boat, I thought it was just the greatest thing. I knew it was for me."

Newton, taking a year off from Western Washington University, hopes to finish his graphic design degree within the year. He hasn't decided whether he'll continue on with the U.S. team through the 2000 Olympics in Australia.

"I think hanging around until 2000 is what I'd like to do," he said, "but I'll probably take this next year a little easier and finish school, relax a bit. I can see myself going on, but I definitely need a break.

"I want to finish school, find something in the advertising field. I'd love to come back to Hawaii."

Newton found a job in sales recently when he and Phillips were having breakfast at the ARCO Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, Calif. A group visiting from Hawaii was looking over the canoe/kayak training facilities, hoping to build a similar facility on Oahu.

"Wow, if they could build that soon enough, I could come back home and train," said Newton. "It would be perfect."

When told that Mike Harbold and his wife, Alexandra, said they would like to be coaches at a Hawaii training center, Newton replied, "That's nice, but Traci and I have already given the guys our names."

With three Hawaii paddlers on the team as well as boat handler Georg Kissner and equipment manager John Puakea, there will definitely be a little bit of aloha on Lake Lanier, the venue for the Olympic canoe/kayak competition.

Newton said he hopes to hear the cheers of "U-S-A, U-S-A" but won't be surprised if somewhere along the course the chant is "Hu-Hu-Hui Nalu."