In the zone: Kaua’i’s Anaya improving daily

Swimmer, 12, to represent Kaua’i at regional championship

Orlando Anaya has been waiting for his most naturally-gifted pupil to plateau. It’s just part of swimming, the coach said. Dropping massive chunks from previous best times isn’t supposed to happen month after month.

But the father in Anaya can’t help but be giddy. That pupil just happens to be his son, Keenan.

“We’ve been waiting for some kind of lull,” Orlando said. “But it just hasn’t happened yet.”

And Mokihana Aquatics — the club Orlando coaches — hopes it doesn’t happen now. After dropping nearly one second (33.00 to 32.01) from his 50-meter butterfly time at the May 25-27 Sakamoto Invitational on Maui, Keenan, 12, has officially qualified for the 2001 Pacific Zone Championships in August.

He will be the first person from Kaua’i to participate in the exclusive meet, which will bring together the best junior swimmers from 12 western states. Keenan is also within mere fractions of a second of reaching at least two other zone times. His proficiency in the butterfly should also earn him the right to swim the stroke in the Hawai’i relay teams.

“If it were any other kid doing this,” Orlando said, “I’d be standing on my head and spinning, but I have to be a little more humble since he’s my son.”

But it’s not easy. Especially considering the success Keenan enjoyed at the Sakamoto meet. The youngster swam in 10 events, winning the gold medal in eight, and was crowned the high-point swimmer for his 11-12 year-old age group.

It was the first time a Kauaian has garnered that honor at a state meet, and sets the stage for a monster showdown at the Age Group Longcourse State Championships June 8-11 in Hilo.

“The best of the best will be at states and will be swimming fast,” Orlando said. “A real eye-opening thing was that what Keenan did at Sakamotos was pretty much expected.”

That so, because some of the state’s top swimmers, including Oahu’s Ikaika Earl, 12, did not travel to the Sakamoto Invitational.

“A lot of the Oahu clubs stayed home from the Sakamoto meet,” Orlando said. “It kind of turned it into the outer-island championships.”

With Keenan — relatively unknown just a few months ago — at the top.

“I’ve been swimming for a year-and-a-half,” Keenan said. “These were the kind of goals I set when I got into this.

“Now, I just have to push myself to do what I think I cannot do. That’s how I’ll get faster.”

That’s what his coach/father would like to see him do over the next week.

“I’ve tried to tell him not to concentrate on making more zone times, but just to focus on bettering his times,” Orlando said. “Let the zone qualifying come.”

The next goal for Keenan is to bring home a gold medal from a state meet. He came up short at the Age Group Short Course State Championships in December.

“The goal then was to make a final,” Orlando said. “My how things have progressed.”

Keenan swam 2:25.41 for his 200-meter free, and 29.91 in the 50 free. Each was a considerable drop from his entry time.

Though Keenan is the highest-profile swimmer in the Mokihana club, Orlando said his son wasn’t the top swimmer at the Sakamoto Invitational.

“I would say Kelsey Tanaka was actually the swimmer of the meet,” Orlando said.

Tanaka, 10, turned in a state-qualifying 38.06 in his 50-meter freestyle, good for seventh in his age group. He did the same in his 100-meter free, swimming a 1:29.34. He bettered his entry time in all but one event, and shaved nearly 20 seconds off his 200-meter free time.

Mokihana also got a nice effort from Kyson Gusukuma, 11, who was swimming in his first-ever meet.

Mokihana was also represented by four girls at Sakamoto. Danelle Yost, 13, Katelyn Umetsu, 13, Mia Shiraishi, 14, and Roxanne DuBois, 13, gave the club its first relay team in years.

Individually, Yost was the standout of the bunch, placing seventh in the 50- and 100-meter freestyle and eighth in the 200 free. Her 31.39 in the 50 was a state qualifying time. She swam a 1:09.63 in the 100 and a 2:32.79 in the 200.