PUHI — Anya Littlefield broke two of her own records in helping the Kapa‘a High School girls win the Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation Championships, Saturday. Freshmen swimmers powered Island School boys to their first KIF swimming title at the YMCA Kaua‘i
PUHI — Anya Littlefield broke two of her own records in helping the Kapa‘a High School girls win the Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation Championships, Saturday.
Freshmen swimmers powered Island School boys to their first KIF swimming title at the YMCA Kaua‘i pool in Puhi, coached by former KIF swimming standout Meagan Simms.
Kapa‘a girls soared to 112 points followed by Kaua‘i at 57 points, Waimea High School at 16 points and Island School just a point back at 15 points.
Island School boys were just five points ahead of Kaua‘i at 69 points followed by the Red Raiders at 64 points. Waimea ended with 51 points followed by Kapa‘a at 10 points.
“Great swims by all,” said Billy Brown, head coach for Swim Kaua‘i Aquatics and a KIF Swim official, in an e-mail. “Anya broke records in the 200 Individual Medley and the 100 Freestyle — both are KIF and KIF Championship records — and Island School won its first KIF boys title in school history.”
Littlefield, a junior at Kapa‘a High School, lost little time establishing herself, cracking the 200 Yard IM standard with a 2:19.02 swim, bettering her previous swim of 2:20.04, a state time and KIF record she set on Jan. 15.
The swim also bested the KIF Championship record set in 1991 by Britta Read of 2:27.02.
Her second record came in the 100 Yard Free where she touched at 55:49, besting her record-setting swim of 56.89 of Jan. 22, and besting the KIF Championship record set by Emma Rausch in 2009 of 56.09.
Both swims qualify Littlefield for automatic state times, the 200 IM standard being 2:20.04 and the 100 Free standard being 56.31.
The Kapa‘a junior is also part of Kapa‘a’s two girls relay teams who earned state consideration swims: the Girls 200 Yard Medley Relay, and the Girls 200 Yard Freestyle Relay.
The only male swimmer to get a state consideration swim was Kapa‘a’s Kanoa Nartatez, who captured a consideration in the Boys 50 Yard Freestyle earlier in the season. Nartatez was occupied with Kapa‘a’s boys soccer match against Island School, Saturday.
Island School provided spectators a preview of its power during the opening Boys 200 Yard Medley Relay when its freshman Quinn Hannah-White went head-to-head with Kaua‘i’s Jacob Peck and Jacob Teter, Hannah-White surging at the touch.
But Waimea’s Kevin Killerman took the lead in the Breaststroke phase only to have Island School freshman Makali‘i Pratt regain the lead for the Voyagers in the Butterfly phase over Waimea’s Christopher Milan and Kaua‘i’s Brandon Zeeb.
Voyager freshman Tyler Keith iced the 2:02.74 swim in the Freestyle phase, Waimea’s Kalen McCracken touching for a 2:07.14 swim and Kaua‘i’s Cory Ritter finishing at 2:13.13.
Tyler went on to top the Boys 200 Free at 2:06.65 and the Boys 100 Yard Butterfly at 1:06.31, bettering his seeded time of 1:08.88.
Hannah-White topped the Boys 200 IM on a 2:27.81 swim and had a first finish in the Boys 500 Yard Free on a 5:38.43 touch.
Pratt, seeded just .03 second ahead of Brandon Taylor, was second at 26:30 below Taylor’s first finish of 25.88 in the Boys 50 Free during a crowd-pleasing finish. Nathaniel Elmore, a Kaua‘i senior, filled in third with a 27.08 swim, bettering his seeded time of 29.76.
Taylor also finished second below Killerman in the Boys 100 Yard Free, but in the 1:01.83 swim, bettered his 1:03.72 swim, improving from third to second seed in the event.
Milan, a Waimea sophomore, coming from his strong Freestyle phase in the Medley Relay, finished second in the Boys 200 Free with a 2:27.90 swim, bettering his seeded time of 2:30.30 in the event.
Kaimana Gandeza, a Waimea sophomore, pushed himself in the final leg of the Boys 200 IM to lock up third place just .11 second ahead of Kapa‘a freshman Don Maddock. Gandeza touched at 2:57.78, bettering his seeded time of 2:59.33 while Maddock touched at 2:57.99, also bettering his seeded time of 3:03.71.
Kapa‘a freshman Maluhia Stark-Kinimaka surged to the head of the Girls 50 Yard Free on a 26.83, but fell short of the consideration standard by .24 second. She also swam strong in the Girls 100 Yard Free with a 1:01.19 second place swim, bettering her seeded time of 1:02.20.
Kamalani Brun, a Kapa‘a 10th grader, also chopped time in the Girls 100 Free, touching seventh at 1:13.43, but taking more than five seconds off her seeded 1:18.91 time.
Kapa‘a junior Meagan Morel was thrilled with her first finish in the Girls 100 Yard Butterfly where she touched at 1:15.85, bettering her seeded time of 1:17.57.
That set the pace for second where Megan Chock of Island School touched at 1:18.00, bettering her seeded 1:19.04.
Kaylea Thayer of Kapa‘a was third in the event with a 1:22.38 swim, bettering her seeded time of 1:25.47.
Kapa‘a freshman Abi Stein’s biggest race was in the Girls 200 Yard Free where she bested top seed and school-mate Kaitlyn Jarry by .04 second on a 2:14.65 swim, bettering her seeded 2:25.83.
She repeated that feat in the Girls 100 Yard Breaststroke where she finished second at 1:17.82, bettering her seeded time of 1:25.84.
Peck and Milan battled for second and third in the Boys 500 Yard Free, Peck getting second on a 6:25.47 but slashing more than 20 seconds off his seeded time of 6:44.52.
Milan, in his third finish, touched at 6:26.86, but bettered his seeded swim of 7:38.35.
The 2011 Atlas Insurance Hawai‘i High School Athletic Association Swimming and Diving Championships will be held Feb. 11-12 at the Central O‘ahu Regional Park.
• Dennis Fujimoto, photographer and staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 253) or dfujimoto@kauaipubco.com.
