Kate Machorek of Swim Kaua‘i Aquatics finished second in the overall point standings in the Girls 11-12 division to lead SKA to the highest scoring Neighbor Island team at the 11th Bill Smith Invitational swim meet, recently. Machorek pocketed 54
Kate Machorek of Swim Kaua‘i Aquatics finished second in the overall point standings in the Girls 11-12 division to lead SKA to the highest scoring Neighbor Island team at the 11th Bill Smith Invitational swim meet, recently.
Machorek pocketed 54 points, paced in part by her strong finishes in the 50 Yard and 100 Yard Backstroke swims of 29.57 and 1:02.12, respectively. Those times earned her ZONE standards to lead the SKA toward a meet total 208 points, an increase of 23 points from last year’s performance, and good for an eighth place tropy.
“Our team did so well,” said SKA Coach Billy Brown. “There were more time drops than I ever expected, and lots of our SKA kids had ‘perfect’ meets, dropping time in all of their events. I am so proud of each of them.”
A total of 18 SKA athletes made the trip to the 11th Annual Bill Smith meet and finished by earning 37 medals for their Top 8 finishes. Three of those swimmers finished in the Top 3 for their respective age groups.
Machorek added to her cache of wins with second place finishes in the 50 Freestyle (26.74) and the 50 Butterfly (28.60), and third place finishes in the 100 Freestyle (57.75), and the 200 Individual Medley (2:20.92) giving her a Top 4 finish in all eight events she swam in, posting new personal best times in each swim.
Anya Littlefield, strong in the Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation pool last year, continued to show her prowess in the water, topping the 200 Butterfly for Girls 15-16 on a ZONE standard of 2:14.16. Littlefield went on to finish second in the 100 Backstroke on a 1:04.83 swim en route to finishing in the Top 5 in each of her events leading to a personal third place finish in the overall points standings for Girls 15-16.
Yasmine Ware, an eighth grade student at Chiefess Kamakahelei Middle School, also finished with a third place finish in the overall point standings for the Girls 13-14 by placing in the Top 5 for each of her events. Ware stopped the clock at 1:01.95 in the 100 Backstroke for a silver medal, her strongest showing, and posted a ZONE swim of 25.21 in the 50 Freestyle.
Sophie Britzmann’s trip to the Bill Smith meet was made special when she posted a new State time in the 200 Freestyle o 2:10.81, dropping 5.54 seconds off her seeded time. This was a perfect birthday present for the 15-year-old, and she continued by finishing with six new best times.
Britzmann, Littlefield, Kate Machorek and Ware will be heading back to O‘ahu, Nov. 12 to swim at the Senior Short Course Championship Meet where they will go up against some of the best senior swimmers in the state, including swimmers from the University of Hawai‘i. Their goal is for a Senior Sectional time improvement in the 4×100 Freestyle Relay, in addition to trying to improve their individual swims.
Britzmann, Littlefield and Ware were part of the Girls Open 200 Freestyle Relay that finished fifth at the Bill Smith meet on a 1:49.90 swim.
Britzmann and Ware were also was part of the Girls 13-14 200 Yard Freestyle Relay (1:51.75), and the Girls 13-14 200 Yard Medley Relay (2:08.77) where the SKA teams finished third.
Jack Machorek, 10, paced the younger swimmers by finishing in the Top 8 in seven of his eight events, the strongest showing coming in the 200 IM, chopping 10.20 seconds on a 2:53.65 swim for sixth place. He pocketed another sixth place in the 100 Backstroke (1:20.40) for a 6.02-second improvement.
Kaira Ka‘aihue, 10, had an opportunity to meet her great-uncle Bill Smith for whom the meet is named, and a 1948 Olympic gold medalist in London. Smith was on hand for the meet to welcome the young swimmers.
Ka‘aihue went on to show what young swimmers can do by earning a new state time standard in the 50 Backstroke on a 43.97 swim.
Makoa and Pualei Pratt, twins, each posted perfect meets, Pualei earning two new state times in the 50 Backstroke (34.67) and the 100 Freestyle (1:15.01).
The Fairbanks family of swimmers also posted new time standards at the meet, their first invitational swim meet. Dutch, 9, posted two new state times in the 50 Freestyle (34.90) and the 100 Freestyle (1:16.86). Saber, 12, earned a new AA time in the 200 Freestyle (2:38.84) and Tambrina, 14, earned AA times in the 50 Freestyle (29.87) and the 100 Freestyle (1:04.28).
Torin Knodel, 12, also attending his first invitational, impressed his team by chopping almost 20 seconds off his time in the 200 Freestyle (2:30.44), a new AA time and an improvement of 19.85.
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