Matt Ross, Tyson Chihara excel Saturday by Dennis Fujimoto – THE GARDEN ISLAND KAPA‘A — Matt Ross picked up a state time and a consideration time while Tyson Chihara finished with two consideration times Saturday. The Kaua‘i High School swimmers
Matt Ross, Tyson Chihara excel Saturday
by Dennis Fujimoto – THE GARDEN ISLAND
KAPA‘A — Matt Ross picked up a state time and a consideration time while Tyson Chihara finished with two consideration times Saturday.
The Kaua‘i High School swimmers also helped lead the boys’ “A” team to a consideration time in the 200 Yard Medley Relay, the second event of the day at the Kapa‘a Pool.
That team, consisting of Ross, Eric Phillips, Chihara and Kelsey Tanaka, finished with a 1:59.50 for the consideration time (2:05.00), with the performance falling short of the team’s previous week’s performance when it stopped the clocks at 1:56.49, about two seconds shy of an automatic time (1:54.80).
Mary Tousend, Tory Kobayashi, Trishia Lamay and Casie Ford make up the Kaua‘i High School Girls 200 Yard Freestyle Relay “A” team that also earned a consideration time along with the Kapa‘a High School Girls 400 Yard Freestyle Relay “A” team.
Tania Rames, Kali Grooms, Kalona Hoomanawanui and Emma Rausch make up that Warriors team who stopped the clocks at 4:24.62 (4:25.00 consideration).
Kaua‘i High School senior Ross earned his automatic berth in the Boys 100 Yard Backstroke where he stopped the clock at 1:02.62, just .13 second better than the auto time of 1:02.75.
That backstroke also helped anchor the Raiders’ “A” team in the Boys 200 Yard Medley Relay team where Ross opened the race with the backstroke.
Ross finished the Boys 100 Yard Freestyle with a consideration time of 53.11 (53.35 consideration), but is still about a second shy of the auto time of 52.25.
Chihara earned one of his two consideration times in the 100 Yard Butterfly where he stopped the clock at 1:01.21 (1:02.50 consideration, 59.00 auto), well under the swim of Kapa‘a seniors Stephen Garrett (1:17.39) and Anderson Dreisch (1:34.73).
Chihara also swam the fly in the Raiders’ Medley Relay team competition earlier in the day.
Chihara’s second consideration swim came in the Boys 200 Yard Freestyle race where he again outperformed the field with a 2:00.60 (2:03.00 consideration, 1:58.50 auto) swim, well ahead of Kapa‘a swimmer Stephen Garrett (2:21.18), Cody Ishiguro (2:33.90) and Island School swimmer Scott Emberson (2:35.88).
Alex Milan, a sophomore Swimenehune, improved on his performance in the Boys 50 Yard Free with a final swim of 26.27, bettering his seeded time of 26.84, while aiming for a consideration time of 24.00.
Melanie Grindle, already better than a consideration time with her 27.12 (27.20 consideration) seeded time, slowed in the Girls 50 Yard Free to stop the clock at 27.42 for the top spot in that event.
Rames, a member of the Kapa‘a Girls 400 Yard Freestyle Relay team, is close to a consideration time in the Girls 200 Yard Individual Medley where she finished first on a 2:31.46 swim, about a second-and-a-half short of the consideration time of 2:30.00 in that event.
Her performance was well over second finisher Kobayashi of Kaua‘i, who stopped the clock at 2:39.55 in the event.
Swimmers will have another chance to add to their state list when Kula School hosts this Saturday’s KIF Swim Meet at the Kapa‘a Pool.
Due to ACT testing, the first event will hit the water at 2 p.m.
