WAIPAHU — Gabriela Bryan (9), Asa Hendrickson (12), Sarah Keith (10), and Carolyn Price (12) didn’t let the pressure of their first off-island Invitational Swim Meet get to them. They came prepared to race, both physically and mentally. All achieved
WAIPAHU — Gabriela Bryan (9), Asa Hendrickson (12), Sarah Keith (10), and Carolyn Price (12) didn’t let the pressure of their first off-island Invitational Swim Meet get to them. They came prepared to race, both physically and mentally. All achieved personal best times throughout the two day Bill Smith meet, last month on O‘ahu.
Hendrickson, Keith and Price each swam “perfect” meets by dropping time in every race in which they competed.
Swim Kaua‘i Aquatics sent 14 athletes to the Oct. 22-23 swim meet in Waipahu. The swimmers finished eighth out of 19 teams, despite their small travel team size in comparison to the bigger O‘ahu swim clubs.
“All 14 of our swimmers had incredible time drops, with alot of tough races, and stiff competition from the O‘ahu teams,” head coach Billy Brown said. “We are so proud of every one of these kids.”
Yasmine Ware (14) made history by becoming the first Kaua‘i girl to beat the one-minute mark in the 100 yard Butterfly event. She touched the wall in a blazing time of 59.19, slicing .96 seconds off of her previous time, and earning a new Senior Sectional time along the way. She racked up another Senior Sectional time in the 200 yard Individual Medley, coming in at 2:10.97. Overall, she won first place in five out of 10 events, earning the High Point Award for the Girls 13-14 division for the second year in a row, and the highest point winner for SKA.
Teammate Kate Machorek (13) stayed close, placing one-and-two with Ware in the 200 Individual Medley and the 100 yard Backstroke, and fifth place overall in the Girls 13-14 division. Her new time of 2:13.19 in the 200 yard IM, a 7.73 second drop, earned her a new Western Zone time. Machorek also took second in the 200 yard Backstroke (2:13.20) to Punahou’s Lia Foster.
Veteran swimmer Anya Littlefield (17) obtained a new personal best with her time of1:03.89 in the 100 yard Backstroke event. Littlefield placed second overall in the Women’s Open division.
Tambrina Fairbanks (15) had an outstanding meet, going 8 for 8 in personal best times and placing 14th overall in the Girls 15-16 division. She achieved a new State Qual time by cutting 1.24 seconds in the 100 yard Breaststroke (1:16.52). Her biggest drop of the weekend came in her 200 yard Breaststroke, showing an 8.05 second improvement with her time of 2:36.49. Younger brother Dutch (10) pocketed five new best times, with his 200 yard Freestyle time of 2:39.85 a 3.92 improvement for him.
Kazimir Tasic (17) enjoyed the feeling of earning his first State Qualifying times over the weekend. He first clinched a State cut in the 200 yard Breaststroke with his time of2:42.29, an 8.17 drop. He then went on to earn his second time in the 100 yard Breaststroke the next day, touching the wall in 1:13.63.Sophie Britzmann (15) secured personal best times in four events during the meet, mostnotably with a 1.53 second drop in her 100 yard Butterfly event (1:09.70), and finished in 10th place overall for the meet.
The youngest member of the travel team, Gabriela Bryan, earned a new AA cut in her 50 yard Freestyle event, with a time of 37.58. Hendrickson showed improvement in all five events at his first Invitational, with two new AA cuts in the 100 yard Backstroke (1:22.40) and the 100 yard Breaststroke (1:35.74).
Price, nicknamed Sharkey by her teammates, dropped time in all eight events, and came home with a new State Qualifying time in the100 yard Backstroke with a time of 1:15.12. Ava Wagner (12) had an outstanding weekend as well. She earned new personal besttimes in all six events she competed in. She achieved a new AA time in the 200 yard Individual Medley (2:53.40) and a State Qual time in the 100 yard Breaststroke, stopping the clocks at 1:24.10.
Also achieving new AA cuts were Tyler Keith (15) and Zach Safford (11). Keith chopped an impressive 10.38 seconds off of his previous best in the 200 yard Backstroke (2:25.40). Safford showed his skills in the 100 yard Backstroke with his time of 1:26.20, a 2.33 second drop.
