KAPA‘A — The boys arrived on the swim scene as more records fell and more state times were added to the Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation roster Saturday at the Kapa‘a pool. Waimea High School picked up its first state time for
KAPA‘A — The boys arrived on the swim scene as more records fell and more state times were added to the Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation roster Saturday at the Kapa‘a pool.
Waimea High School picked up its first state time for the season as its Boys 200 Yard Freestyle Relay team earned a consideration time with a swim of 1:45.70, bettering its seeded time of 1:50.35.
Kele Hanohano, PJ Joyce, Kasey Kelley and Matt Holzman make up the team that bettered the state consideration standard of 1:47.49 with its first place finish in the event.
Similarly, Aaron Pigott and Kanoa Nartatez went head-to-head in the Boys 200 Yard Freestyle and finished with a tie for first place at 2:10.02 swimming on extreme opposite ends of the pool in Heat 2.
Holzman finished second at 2:12.29 followed by Aaron Belmonte of Kapa‘a at 2:13.32, falling short of his seeded time of 2:12.58.
Despite the excitement generated by watching the Kapa‘a sophomore in Lane 1 (Nartatez) and the Kaua‘i junior in Lane 6 (Pigott), both times are short of the consideration standard of 2:00.99.
A similar tight race took place in the Girls 200 Yard Freestyle event where Chelsea Chock of Island School and Kaitlyn Jarry of Kapa‘a High School exchanged leads in the second half of the event before Chock overtook Jarry in the final few feet for a split-second margin, 2:20.63 and 2:20.85, respectively. Both swimmers improved from their seeded times, Chock logging in at 2:25.05 and Jarry checking in at 2:21.96.
Despite the boys making a splash with Waimea’s consideration time in the Boys 200 Yard Free Relay, the girls continue to add to the KIF roster of state times.
Overall, three more state auto times and a dozen state consideration times emerged from the meet at the Kapa‘a pool.
The Kapa‘a Girls 200 Yard Medley Relay team opened the meet with a 2:01.62 swim that earned it a state auto time as well as breaking the KIF record set on Jan. 3 by another Kapa‘a team.
Tania Rames, Emma Rausch, Anya Littlefield and Sarah Faraola made up the record-breaking Warrior wahine team that bettered the record set by Rausch, Rames, Littlefield and Jarry.
The Kaua‘i High School team of Tori Kobayashi, Sinead Sims, Desiree Pia and Casie Ford earned a consideration time with its second place finish of 2:06.00.
Kaua‘i senior Pia picked up the second state auto time of the day with a 1:04.60 swim in the Girls 100 Yard Butterfly, breaking her own record set on Jan. 10. The swim earned her first place in the event, an improvement over her 1:05.02 seeded time, but set the pace for consideration times for the second and third place finishes by Littlefield (1:05.75) and Melanie Grindle of Kula High and Intermediate (1:07.57).
Pia additionally earned a consideration time with a first finish in the Girls 200 Yard Individual Medley where she stopped the clock at 2:30.13.
Grindle picked up a consideration time in the Girls 50 Yard Freestyle with her first finish at 26.81, an improvement over her seeded time of 26.86.
The Kula High and Intermediate junior also picked up a consideration time in the Girls 100 Yard Backstroke with a second place finish of 1:09.87.
Littlefield, finishing first in that event, also earned a consideration time on her 1:07.70 swim, just about a second off the auto standard of 1:06.49.
Ford finished with a consideration time in the Girls 100 Yard Freestyle on her first finish at 58.98 and Rausch broke into the books with a consideration time in the Girls 500 Yard Freestyle where she finished first with a 5:53.07 swim, bettering the consideration standard of 5:55.59.
Rausch, a sophomore at Kapa‘a High School, earned a consideration time with a first finish in the Girls 100 Yard Breaststroke on a 1:16.64 swim, just about a second off the state auto standard of 1:15.29.
Kaua‘i High School’s Girls 400 Yard Freestyle Relay team rounded out the day with a first finish and a state auto time of 3:56.25, the team breaking the KIF record in the event set on Jan. 10 by the Kapa‘a team of Rausch, Rames, Faraola and Littlefield.
Kapa‘a’s team of Littlefield, Rames, Jarry and Rausch finished second on a 4:03.54 to earn a consideration time, bettering its seeded time of 4:03.75, the time of the KIF record set Jan. 10.
The KIF will host one more qualifying meet this Saturday before the KIF Championships on Jan. 31.
Due to SAT testing, this Saturday’s meet, hosted by Kula High and Intermediate, will start at 2 p.m. at the YMCA pool in Puhi.
The KIF Championships will be hosted by Island School starting at 10 a.m. Jan. 31 at the YMCA pool.
• Dennis Fujimoto, photographer and staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 253) or dfujimoto@kauaipubco.com
