Isabella Bivens, 5, earned the endurance award of the weekend when Swim Kaua‘i Aquatics recently hosted its Fifth Annual Kaua‘i Classic swim meet at the YMCA pool. Stacey Machorek of SKA said Bivens powered through a 100-yard freestyle event, finishing
Isabella Bivens, 5, earned the endurance award of the weekend when Swim Kaua‘i Aquatics recently hosted its Fifth Annual Kaua‘i Classic swim meet at the YMCA pool.
Stacey Machorek of SKA said Bivens powered through a 100-yard freestyle event, finishing with a round from everyone on the pool deck.
“It was awesome,” said SKA Coach Billy Brown. “This was an incredible weekend of swimming.”
SKA hosted the Kaua‘i Classic swim meet, which attracted more than 80 young athletes from Kaua‘i, O‘ahu and as far away as Seattle, Wash.
Brown said the two-day format of the Kaua‘i Classic allows swimmers the opportunity to swim eight individual events each, enabling some of the swimmers to try some longer distance events which they don’t normally swim in.
Machorek said Punahou Aquatics sent 16 swimmers, American Renaissance Academy was represented by 11 swimmers and one swimmer hailed from Manoa Aquatics. The visitors were joined by a pair of swimmers from Seattle who had been training all week with SKA swimmers.
Joining the large off-island showing, SKA swimmers Michael Beresnev, 10, Lylah Gibans, 9, Hayley-Jay Ka‘eo, 8, and Cheyenne St. John, 11, all experienced their first swim meet at the Kaua‘i Classic.
SKA athletes posted seven new state qualifying times, 17 AA time standards, 24 A times and 23 B times, Machorek said in a news release.
Eight swimmers in the 50-athlete field posted perfect meets with new personal times in each of their swims at the meet, including Athena Alexander, 11, Malina Dwight, 12, Asa Hendrickson, 13, Sarah Keith, 11, Juliah Peck, 11, James Pratt, 9, Julia Safford, 9, and Malia Splittstoesser.
Alexander, among her perfect swims, earned three new AA time standards in her 50-yard breaststroke, 100-yard individual medley and 50-yard freestyle, adding three new A time standards in the 200-yard freestyle, 200-yard IM and the 50-yard backstroke.
Dwight pocketed four new AA time standards in the 50-yard breaststroke, 100-yard backstroke, and 100- and 200-yard freestyle events, while Hendrickson earned two A time standards in the 100- and 200-yard freestyle, taking off more than seven seconds in the 200-yard free.
Adan and Ari Hendrickson, both 8, combined for three new A and three new B time standards, each swimmer scoring seven new personal best times.
Keith’s showing over the meet yielded three new time cuts, including B times in the 50-yard breaststroke and 50-yard backstroke and an A time standard in the 200-yard free.
Peck pocketed six best times, one coming in the B time standard during the 200-yard freestyle.
Pratt swam in four events with four new times, and Safford clinched two new AA times, two new A times and two new B time standards. Splittstoesser finished the meet with four new A time standards, including a 12-second drop in the 100-yard freestyle.
SKA was founded to teach swimming skills and proficiency for children and adults on Kaua‘i. The club encourages physical fitness and competition through USA Swimming-organized events.
Visit www.swimkauai.com for more information.
