Waimea boys make waves, again!

PUHI — Waimea High School’s boys swim team eked out gold by just two points at the Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation Swimming Championships, Saturday at the YMCA pool.

“I don’t know how long it’s been, but someone told me that it’s been 29 years since Waimea won a meet,” said Menehune head coach Jeff Casey, following the win.

“It came down to the final relay event,” said Stephanie Rogers, the timer and scorekeeper for the KIF meet. “Waimea won with 71 points to Kaua‘i’s 69 points.”

Kapa‘a boys finished third with 54 points and host Island School collected a dozen points.

Kapa‘a’s Anya Littlefield finished a double individual winner, earning two qualifying times and breaking two KIF records.

Teammate Emma Rausch was also a double individual winner with an automatic state-qualifying and a consideration time and breaking two KIF records.

But Kaua‘i’s Desiree Pia finished a triple individual winner, earning two consideration times and breaking a record to lead the Red Raider girls to first place with 83 points. Kapa‘a had 77 points, Island School had 31 points, Waimea 18 points and Kula School 9 points.

Overall, KIF swimmers broke seven KIF records while garnering 10 auto times and 17 consideration times at the championship meet that saw a large crowd converge at the venue.

Casey said when the school had signups for swimming, only two swimmers turned out.

“We recruited some of the surfer boys,” said Mary Holzman, one of the Waimea coaches. “After the first qualifying time, the boys started trickling in, and we could work with them.”

Kele Hanohano came straight off the football field and came up with seven critical points and Bryce Beaver is the MVP, Casey said.

Kapa‘a’s Girls 200 Yard Medley Relay team, Tania Rames, Rausch, Kaitlyn Jarry and Savana Roselli, opened the meet as an indicator of things to come as the team that set a KIF record at the Jan. 17 meet in Kapa‘a, dominated the swim with a 2:04.48 performance. It was less than its record-setting swim, but enough to earn a consideration time while breaking the KIF Champs record of 2:06.98 set on Feb. 9, 2008 by the Kapa‘a team of Rausch, Rames, Dastrup and Jarry.

In the boys race, the top-seeded Kapa‘a team of Aaron Belmonte, Makana Weiss, Zaimana Fernandez and Kanoa Nartatez shaved off about nine seconds off its seeded time, but fell to the Kaua‘i team.

Kaua‘i group of Cody Ishiguro, Aaron Pigott, Ethan Austin-Elbez and Justin Mathany, seeded at 2:06.04, was strong off the blocks as Ishiguro established a lead that could not be wrestled through the swim. That team finished at 2:00.69, followed by Kapa‘a (2:04.67) and Waimea (2:05.07).

Littlefield and Ryann Linthicum of Kaua‘i waged a head-to-head battle in the Girls 200 Yard Freestyle with both swimmers earning auto times and breaking the KIF record and championship record. Littlefield stopped the clock at 2:03.52, two seconds better than her seeded time, and Linthicum stopped the clock at 2:04.32 (2:09.34 seed), breaking the championship record of 2:11.00 set in 2003 by Waimea’s Alisha Golden. The current KIF record was set on Jan. 24 by Littlefield of Kapa‘a.

Another tight race unfolded in the Girls 200 Yard IM when Kaua‘i’s Pia was strong off the blocks, but Kapa‘a’s Rames closing the gap through two phases and taking a brief lead off the wall in the butterfly phase.

Pia powered back into the lead and held off Rames through the remainder of the race, stopping the clock at 2:27.80 (2:27.40 seed) followed by Rames at 2:29.49 (2:37.56 seed), both times earning consideration.

Rausch broke her own season and championship record in the Girls 100 Yard Freestyle event with a time of 57.54.

P.J. Joyce, Alex Milan, Bryce Beaver and Dane Harding formed the Waimea Boys 400 Yard Freestyle Relay team that clinched the boys title on a 3:56.45 swim followed by Kaua‘i at 4:32.60 and Kapa‘a at 4:42.38.