PUHI — Kaua‘i swimmers broke two more Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation records, picked up four state auto qualifying times and added 13 state consideration times following Saturday’s qualifying meet at the YMCA pool. Waimea’s coach, happy with his boys making state
PUHI — Kaua‘i swimmers broke two more Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation records, picked up four state auto qualifying times and added 13 state consideration times following Saturday’s qualifying meet at the YMCA pool.
Waimea’s coach, happy with his boys making state times at last week’s event, was determined to add to that event.
Of the 13 consideration times, Waimea placed in two events: the Boys 400 Yard Freestyle Relay and the Boys 200 Yard Freestyle Relay.
The other boys consideration time came in the Boys 200 Yard Freestyle Relay where the Kapa‘a team, finishing second, also bettered the consideration standard.
In the Boys 200 Yard Medley Relay, Waimea attempted to get a consideration time, but the team of Dane Harding, Matt Holzman, PJ Joyce and Kasey Kelley fell short by about two seconds.
The Menehune boys, seeded with a 2:08.54 time, finished first in that event with a 2:03.13 swim in pursuit of the 2:01.99 consideration standard.
In the Boys 400 Yard Freestyle Relay, Waimea’s team of Joyce, Harding, Alex Milan and Holzman finished first on a 3:56.30 swim, bettering their seeded time of 4:02.96 to earn the consideration time.
Kele Hanohano, Milan, Bryce Beaver and Kelley made up the Boys 200 Yard Freestyle Relay team for Waimea who bettered their seeded time of 1:45.70 with a 1:45.55 swim to edge out Kapa‘a’s team that stopped the clock at 1:47.15, another consideration swim.
Aaron Belmonte, Zaimana Fernandez, Makana Weiss and Kanoa Nartatez made up that Warrior team that finished by bettering its seeded time of 1:51.45.
Anya Littlefield, a Kapa‘a freshman, entered the Girls 200 Yard Freestyle event with no time and was placed in Lane 7. But from the onset, Littlefield surged past fellow swimmer Kaitlyn Jarry in Heat 2 to claim the lead for the event.
That earned her a 2:06.21 swim, bettering the state auto standard of 2:07.01 as well as bettering the KIF record of 2:07.01 set by Kaua‘i High School swimmer Casie Ford on Jan. 10.
Ryann Linthicum, a Kaua‘i freshman, topped the Heat 1 swimmers to finish second overall in the event with a 2:09.34 swim, making the consideration time by a mere .65 second.
Ford was set on getting more state times and with a first finish in the Girls 500 Yard Freestyle event, earned the second of four auto times on a 5:42.15 swim.
Ford was also the anchor swimmer for the Kaua‘i Girls 200 Yard Medley Relay team that earned a consideration time with a first finish in the event with a 2:05.78 swim. Joining Ford on that team are Linthicum, Sinead Sims and Desiree Pia.
Pia earned her own consideration time in the Girls 50 Yard Freestyle with a first finish over Melanie Grindle of Kula Intermediate and High, the meet’s host. Pia stopped the clocks at 26.79, edging out Grindle by just .01 second.
The tables reversed in the Girls 100 Yard Freestyle event where Grindle bettered her seeded time of 59.96 with a second place finish swim of 58.63 while Pia finished at 59.24, both times earning consideration nods.
Emma Rausch finished first in that event with a 58.41 swim.
Rausch went on to break the second KIF record in the meet and earned an auto time with a first finish in the Girls 100 Yard Backstroke. She touched with a 1:04.93 swim, bettering her own record of 1:05.27 set on Jan. 26 and getting the qualifying nod.
Grindle finished second in that event with a 1:08.39 swim, bettering her seeded time of 1:09.87 and earning a consideration time.
Tania Rames, another Kapa‘a swimmer, finished with a 1:14.63 swim in the Girls 100 Yard Breaststroke to earn the final auto time of the meet.
Rames, Rausch, Sarah Faraola and Littlefield made up the Girls 200 Yard Freestyle Relay team that earned a consideration time with its first finish swim of 1:49.28, bettering its seeded time of 1:50.64.
Rausch, Littlefield, Jarry and Rames made up the Girls 400 Yard Freestyle Relay team that chalked up a consideration time with its first finish of 4:03.74, falling short of its seeded time by .20 second.
This Saturday marks the KIF Swim Championships and the final opportunity for Kaua‘i swimmers to qualify for the state events.
Hosted by Island School, the meet gets underway starting at 10 a.m. at the YMCA pool.
• Dennis Fujimoto, photographer and staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 253) or dfujimoto@kauaipubco.com
