“Amazing! I am glad we did it,” gleams first year coach from Kapa’a, Kara Panui. Kapa’a’s stunning victory in the Girls KIF championship meet ends a nearly decade-long run held by the Red Raiders. Kauai’s Boys won their second straight
“Amazing! I am glad we did it,” gleams first year coach from Kapa’a, Kara Panui. Kapa’a’s stunning victory in the Girls KIF championship meet ends a nearly decade-long run held by the Red Raiders.
Kauai’s Boys won their second straight championship this past Saturday, also.
An inputing error caused the wrong champions to be announced for the girls at the meet.
While some obvious outrage has been expressed, both head coaches recognized the error and graciously accepted the official results.
“Kapa’a did a great job,” Melissa Hall, Kauai head coach, says. “I just feel bad for the kids. On paper we had a winning meet, but we had to perform as winners. I feel a bad call made by the judges cost us the KIF. I think we won the first race and so did the timers,” Hall laments.
Hall does concede, “We made some errors.” Panui agrees with Hall’s last assessment. “We got lucky,” she said. “Our boys and girls were not having a good day.”
But no one should be surprised at Kapa’a’s success.
Fielding the largest number of Age Group swimmers and a very young team, the Warriors were able to place consistently high, finally winning by the slimmest of margins.
“It’s only one point, but it’s a victory,” claims Panui.
As promised, it was one of that fastest championships in a long time. The largest crowd in an even longer time saw some great swimming.
New standards were set in every event for Boys in the Kaua’i pool records.
And Kauai’s Fletcher Parker, the meet’s most likely MVP, shattered the KIF mark in the 500 Free by more then five seconds . Parker’s unchallenged performance came after his incredible upset of eventual Boys’ Swimmer of the Year, Kelii Kaaihue, in the Boys 200 Free.
Waimea proved that dynamite comes in small packages, exploding to the most gold medals -11!
This team total represents half of the championships awarded by the KIF. Waimea’s Kaina Makua, Jack Flores, and Katelyn Umetsu were multiple champions, claiming that status in the Boys 50 Free, 100 Fly, 200IM, and 100 Breast and in the Girls 100 Fly and 100 Back.
Waimea sisters, Ivie and Gina Fujimura, round out the Menehunes’ individual champions in the Girls 100 Free (Gina) and 200 IM (Ivie). The Boys 200 Medley Relay as well as the Girls and Boys 200 Free Relay were Waimea’s three other medals, all new pool records.
Kauai’s Amanda Scheppers helped Kauai to claim 5 gold medals, all individual, and with two KIF records. Scheppers not only set a pool record in her 50 Free victory, but set a new KIF record in the 500 Free as well.
“Our goal was to break the 500 Free record, and we can take stock in that,” said Kauai’s Hall.
Kauai’s other gold medal was draped over the neck of Shane Ford for the Boys 100 Backstroke.
Kapa’a star Kelii Kaaihue won a gold medal in the Boys 100 Free while their Boys and Girls swept the 400 Free Relay events earning the Warriors two more golds.
As expected, Kula’s Katrina Hettinger broke a 21 year old KIF record in the Girls 100 yard Breaststroke earning her first gold medal.
Kula also won gold in the Girls 200 yard Medley Relay. Island School’s Erin Emberson, while giving up her Butterfly championship, was still able to win gold and be crowned champion for the Girls 200 Free.
“I want to say a big ‘thank you’ to everyone for making this such a great season,” Kapa’a’s Panui concludes.
Kauai’s Hall says, “I wish the best to all the state qualifiers.”
We will follow Kauai’s state qualifiers’ progress at the Hawaii State High School Swimming Championships being held in one week in Kona.
