Tears welled in the eyes of Mokihana Aquatics coach Orlando Anaya. “Kama just started swimming, and you would’ve thought she made the Olympics,” Anaya said. “She came running up, all excited, screaming, ‘I got a ‘B’ time! I got a
Tears welled in the eyes of Mokihana Aquatics coach Orlando Anaya.
“Kama just started swimming, and you would’ve thought she made the Olympics,” Anaya said. “She came running up, all excited, screaming, ‘I got a ‘B’ time! I got a ‘B’ time!’ I could feel the tears welling up.”
Kamalani Brun, 11, was just one of the young Mokihana Aquatics swimmers who posted improvements in her previous times. The “B” time she referred to came in the 50 Back event where she stopped the clock at 45.26Y, an improvement of 5.92 over her previous time.
But it didn’t stop with Brun as every swimmer who entered the two-day Fun Meet emerged with at least one personal best.
“I have never in my 22 years of coaching seen anything like this,” Anaya said. “I can see one, two, and several swimmers having a break-out meet, but to have an entire team break out? All I can say is ‘Wow!’”
Leading the charge, Yasmine Ware, 10, who has been steadily improving since entering the pool, finished with improvements in eight of the eight events she competed in. Additionally, she posted five first-place wins while earning qualifying times in all of her eight swims.
“When she came to collect her ribbons, she asked, ‘Where’re my ribbons?’” Nalani Brun, Kamalani’s mom said. “When I told her, that was it, she said, ‘But they’re all blue!’ That was so cute.”
Anaya said normally when swimmers have breakout meets, their margin of improvements are not so big, but he pointed to Ware’s times, noting that she had gains of 9 seconds (200 Individual Medley-9.50), 7 seconds (100 Breast-7.06), and 6 seconds (100 Free-6.19) among her improved times.
“You never see things like that,” Anaya, excited about the club’s performance, said. “All I can say is ‘Wow!’”
Evan Hamamoto was another swimmer with a perfect meet, posting improvements in nine of nine events and notching three first finishes.
“Evan was unreal,” Anaya said. “In the 200 IM, he was up against this real tall guy, Taylor Redmond, from Hickam. But that little 12-year-old matched him stroke for stroke through most of the race.”
Hamamoto’s biggest improvement came in the 200 IM where, after pacing the big Hickam swimmer, he shaved off 18.21 off his previous time. Hamamoto followed that feat by taking off 18.18 in the 100 IM.
Anaya said there were similar stories throughout the 20-swimmer field, noting that many of the first-place winners came from the outside lanes.
“The swimmers are awesome,” Anaya said in a blanket e-mail to the club’s parents. “I am in a state of shock. I watched them swim like they never did before, and wow! And I don’t want to take away from any of the other clubs who participated because they all had something to be proud of. They had good swims, too.”
