Ask any coach from all five of the schools in the KIF and they’ll all say the same thing about their picks for the upcoming season. The consensus: The Kaua‘i boys and the Kapa‘a girls are the early favorites to
Ask any coach from all five of the schools in the KIF and they’ll all say the same thing about their picks for the upcoming season. The consensus: The Kaua‘i boys and the Kapa‘a girls are the early favorites to win it all this season.
“Kaua‘i will be tough this year, both the boys and girls squads are good,” Kapa‘a High School head coach Kara Panui said.
Girls
The Kapa‘a girls team features the biggest squad in the league, with 23 swimmers. According to coach Panui, this is a rebuilding season for her boys squad, after losing top swimmers, Michael Maddock, Andrew Salvador, and Jeremy Albano to graduation.
But her girls squad looks as good as ever with Liana Nakazawa, Jennifer Rodelo, Jennifer Lindsey, freshman Cava-Lei Wilson, and O‘ahu transplant Stephanie Perius.
Nakazawa and Rodelo are the veterans and Lindsey has the perfect body for swimming with her 6’5″ frame. Perius is a former Mokihana Aquatics swimmer and should be a force this season for the Warriors.
“Kapa‘a has the experience on both sides and their girls squad should be tough to beat,” Kaua‘i High School head coach Tom Coxwell said.
The Kaua‘i girls should challenge Kapa‘a for the girls title, with talented swimmers like Meaghan Sims and Torrey Ikeda.
The Waimea girls are the consensus to finish third with its five-member squad, featuring Mokihana Aquatics swimmer Katelyn Umetsu, Tiffani Tumbaga, Kelly Joyce, Heather Haack, and Jade Casmass.
“We have all of our girls back this year with Katelyn as our best all-around swimmer and Jade should do well in the freestyle,” Waimea High School first-year head coach Aaron Haberman said.
Island School mirrors Waimea’s squad with small numbers as well for its girls’ squad.
“Our four girls are extremely coachable and all should do well, Jamie Emberson, Michelle Woltmon, Sonya James, and Leilani Carvalho all have different strokes that are strong,” Island School first-year head coach Ro Davis said in an email.
At Kula School, second year head coach Dick Oliver will rely heavily on Wailana Waite, who is a terrific breaststroker.
Boys
Even without its best swimmer, the Kaua‘i High School boys are the favorites going into the KIF swimming season, followed by Kapa‘a, Waimea, Island School, and Kula School.
“We’ve got a relatively young team, but we should be competitive in the boys contests,” Coxwell said.
The Red Raiders look to former Mokihana Aquatics swimmer Jarred Perry and Kyson Gusukuma to lead the team.
Kapa‘a and its squad of eight boys should also compete for the title with Jason Orbe-Smith leading the way.
“This will be a rebuilding year for our boys team, which lost a lot of talented swimmers from last year’s squad,” Panui said.
Waimea has five new boys swimmers this season, with freshman Randy Umetsu the favorite in most of the events.
“Randy is our best all-around boys swimmer and our most improved individual is Logan Ka‘aihue, who has a ton of potential,” Haberman said.
Waimea’s roster also features junior Gregg Fujimoto, and seniors Eric Oroc and Grant Kagawa.
“This will be a building kind of year for us and we are missing a lot of kids who showed up from the start,” Haberman said.
Every coach in the league knows the potential and talent of Island School freshman Ben Baldwin.
The Mokihana Aquatics swimmer hails from California and should be the favorite individually for the boys competition.
“Ben has all the strokes and should be tough to beat in any race. He is certain to qualify for the Hawai‘i State High School Championships,” Davis said.
The other individual Island School is counting on this season to make a mark is Kimo Merrin, who is rapidly improving.
It should be another exciting season for KIF swimming and it all starts today at Kaua‘i High School’s pool with the first of four Pent-Meets, followed by the KIF Meet. Kapa‘a High School will not be participating in today’s meet because of prior commitment to a preseason meet at Kalani High School on O‘ahu. Also, there will be some students from Waimea and Kaua‘i who will be at another function, which deals with the Ku Kila Kila All-Island Marching Band.
KIF swimming opener: Pent-Meet today at 10 a.m. at Kaua‘i High School’s pool.
