Yasmine Ware, 12, swimming under the Swim Kaua‘i Aquatics umbrella here, earned a first-place finish in the Girls 50 Meter (Long Course) Backstroke, Saturday at the 2009 Western Zone Swimming Tournament on O‘ahu. Ware, one of five SKA swimmers joining
Yasmine Ware, 12, swimming under the Swim Kaua‘i Aquatics umbrella here, earned a first-place finish in the Girls 50 Meter (Long Course) Backstroke, Saturday at the 2009 Western Zone Swimming Tournament on O‘ahu.
Ware, one of five SKA swimmers joining the Team Hawai‘i squad at the Zone tournament, finished the championship swim on a 32.83 final, a strong showing over second finisher Haley Rowley of Colorado that stopped the clock at 33.66. Ware’s preliminary swim in the event stopped the clock at 33.74, both times qualifying for Zone marks, according to results of the Zone championships posted on the Hawai‘i Swimming Web site.
Mokihana Aquatics coach Orlando “O” Anaya was thrilled to e-mail the notice of Ware’s achievement at the Zone tournament, noting that this was “historic” because he said she is the first swimmer from Kaua‘i to win a Zone championship. Ware also participated in the Zone tournament last year, the only Kaua‘i swimmer to make the trip.
“What she did was great,” Anaya said. “She should dominate and break the short course record in the next three months.”
Following the meet, Team Hawai‘i finished in fourth with 844.5 points. Colorado finished first with 1,701 points followed by Pacific (1,211) and Oregon (1,140).
Ware finished 21st in the 100 Meter Freestyle on a 1:05.22 swim, an improvement over her 1:07.49 preliminary to wrap up the Zone tournament.
Ware finished with Zone times in all of her events but two, the 100 Meter Free and the 100 Meter Fly.
Earlier in the week, Ware finished fifth in the Girls 100 Meter Backstroke with a 1.11.98 qualifying for a Zone time, improving almost two seconds over her preliminary swim of 1:13.94, Wednesday.
In the 100 Meter Backstroke, Ware finished fourth on a 1:13.94 swim, off from her 1:12.84 preliminary mark, Wednesday. Danielle Jefferies, 12, also of Team Hawai‘i, finished third on a 1:12.78 swim over Ware, just a tad off her 1:12.34 preliminary swim. Both times are Zone qualifying.
On Thursday, Ware finishes the 50 Meter Butterfly in 10th below Sarah Armstrong (30.86) with a 32.98 swim, down from her preliminary 32.35 qualifying. Both times are Zone. Jefferies finishes 11th below Ware on a 31.38, an improvement over her 32.35 preliminary.
Ware finishes 14th in 100 Meter Butterfly, Friday, on a 1:13.76 swim, down from her 1:12.33 preliminary. Jefferies finishes second, her third strong showing in three days, in the event on a 1:09.39 swim.
Joining Ware from SKA were Aaron Pigott, Anya Littlefield, Emma Rausch and Evan Hamamoto, the SKA swimmers being able to post achievements on the leaderboards in their respective events as well.
Littlefield, 15, earned a Zone time with her sixth place finish in the 1500 Meter Freestyle, Tuesday, on a 19:01.29 swim. She added a 23rd finish in the 200 Meter Free, Thursday, swimming a 2:21.19 in the event. On Friday, Littlefield finished 11th on the 200 Meter Fly preliminaries with a 2:44.96 swim.
Littlefield finished seventh in the finals of the 800 Meter Free, stopping the clock on a 9:58.70 swim, Saturday.
Rausch, 16, posted a 20th finish in the prelims pf the Girls 200 Meter Backstroke, Wednesday, on a 2:41.62 swim. On Friday, Rausch posted a 19th finish in the prelims of the 100 Meter Breaststroke on a 1:29.30 swim. Saturday, Rausch finished 22nd in the prelims of the 100 Meter Backstroke on a 1:15.93 swim. She also finished 26th in the prelims of the 100 Meter Free on a 1:06.13 swim.
She also finished 26th in the Girls 50 Meter Free on a 30.63 swim in the preliminaries.
Pigott earned a ninth finish in the 200 Meter Breaststroke preliminaries, Wednesday, on a 2:49.06 swim, a Zone time.
Hamamoto posted a 26th finish in the 50 Meter Free preliminaries with a 28.09 swim, Wednesday. On Thursday, he posted 26th in the preliminaries of the 200 Meter Free on a 2:29.27 swim.
The next swim event on Kaua‘i will be the Mokihana Aquatics Fun Meet, Aug. 15-16 at the Waimea pool featuring swimmers from the Hilo Aquatics, Pearl City Aquatics, and Maui Swim Club joining the Mokihana Aquatics swimmers.
Following that event, The 2nd Annual Kaua‘i Classic Swim Meet hosted by SKA will take place at the YMCA pool on Aug. 28-30.
For more information, contact SKA coach Billy Brown (808) 497-4403, or Meet director Dan Britzmann (808) 639-8792, or visit the SKA Web site at www.swimkauai.com.
• Dennis Fujimoto, photographer and staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 253) or dfujimoto@kauaipubco.com
