KAPA‘A — The lack of starting blocks and the biting winds did nothing to stop Matt Ross who picked up an auto and a consideration time at Saturday’s swim. Kapa‘a freshman Emma Rausch joined Ross in picking up an auto
KAPA‘A — The lack of starting blocks and the biting winds did nothing to stop Matt Ross who picked up an auto and a consideration time at Saturday’s swim.
Kapa‘a freshman Emma Rausch joined Ross in picking up an auto time as well.
Additionally, two Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation swim records fell, and three other swimmers chalked up consideration times at the KIF qualifying swim meet hosted by Island School at the Kapa‘a Pool.
Ross, a senior at Kaua‘i High School, opened up the state qualifying runs early as he was part of the Red Raiders’ “A” team which earned a consideration time for the Boys 200 Yard Medley Relay on a swim of 1:56.24 (2:05.00 consideration).
That performance by team members Ross, Aaron Pigott, Tyson Chihara and Kelsey Tanaka was .25 second better than its last week’s consideration time performance.
Ross jumped right into the Boys 200 Yard Freestyle where he swam to a 1:54.88 automatic time (1:58.50) before finishing with a consideration time in the Boys 100 Yard Freestyle where he finished at 52.65, a big improvement over his seeded time of 53.11.
Ross’s Saturday time is just .40 second shy of an auto time in that event.
Rausch picked up her auto time in the Girls 100 Yard Backstroke where she finished at 1:05.27, almost a second better than the auto time standard of 1:06.00.
According to the KIF scorekeeper John Ross, Rausch’s performance in this event bettered the existing KIF record of 1:07.76 set by Alanna Reynolds on Jan. 27, 2007.
Rausch also came close to a consideration time in the Girls 50 Yard Freestyle where she stopped the clock in second place at 27.54, just .34 second shy of the consideration time.
In that event, Kula High and Intermediate sophomore Melanie Grindle finished first while earning a consideration time with a 27.15 swim.
But Grindle, like Rausch, came close to a second consideration time when she finished first in the Girls 100 Yard Butterfly on a 1:08.36 swim, a big improvement over her seeded 1:10.50. Grindle’s final is just .19 second short of the consideration time of 1:08.17.
Finishing second to Rausch in the Girls 100 Yard Backstroke, Kapa‘a junior Tania Rames not only improved on her seeded time, she earned a consideration time with a 1:09.77 swim in the event.
Rames also made a strong showing in the Girls 500 Yard Freestyle event where she finished first at 6:05.60 over Kaua‘i’s Casie Ford (6:06.58).
According to Ross, both of these times fall short of the consideration time of 5:50.38, but are better than the KIF record (6:08.55) for this event set by former Kaua‘i High School swimmer Meaghan Sims — who was enjoying the event from the stands — on Feb. 10, 2007.
Over in the Red Raider camp, Tanaka and Chihara, both part of the consideration time Boys 200 Yard Medley Relay team, picked up individual consideration times of their own with a 1-2 finish in the Boys 100 Yard Breaststroke event.
Tanaka set the pace in that event with a 1:10.64 finish, a strong improvement over his seeded time of 1:13.54. He was closely followed by Chihara touching the wall at 1:10.75 for the consideration times.
“It’s hard to swim in this cold wind,” Chihara said during a break in the action. “When your body hits the water, it feels like it’s going into shock because it’s so cold.”
But Chihara, whose goal is to qualify for at least two state events, is optimistic about the remaining three meets.
“We move back to Kaua‘i High’s pool Saturday, and hopefully it won’t be so windy,” Chihara said. “There’re only three more meets including the championship, so hopefully I’ll make my goal.”
Mary Tausend, Tory Kobayashi, Trisha Lamay and Casie Ford make up the Kaua‘i High School “A” team who earned the Girls 200 Yard Freestyle Relay consideration time with a 1:54.75 swim.
Garrett Stephen, James Hitchcock, Aaron Belmonte and Dylan Haight make up the Kapa‘a High School “A” Boys 400 Yard Freestyle Relay team which earned a consideration time on a 3:54.79 swim over the 4:00.00 standard.
Saturday’s qualifying swim meet will be hosted by Waimea High School starting at 10 a.m. at the Kaua‘i High School pool.
• Dennis Fujimoto, photographer and staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 253) or dfujimoto@kauaipubco.com
