PUHI — With the Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation Swimming Championships looming this Saturday, KIF swimmers continued to hone their skills, picking up three Auto, or qualifying swims, and seven consideration swims, Saturday at the YMCA pool. The final qualifying KIF swim
PUHI — With the Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation Swimming Championships looming this Saturday, KIF swimmers continued to hone their skills, picking up three Auto, or qualifying swims, and seven consideration swims, Saturday at the YMCA pool.
The final qualifying KIF swim was moved from its original Kapa‘a Swimming Pool due to some issues with the pool, Friday.
Leading the charge for new qualifying swims, Kaua‘i High School sophomore Kate Machorek picked up a qualifying swim in the Girls 100 Yard Backstroke, touching the wall at 1:03.13, an improvement over her seeded 1:04.08 swim, an Auto time standard. Machorek’s effort helped push Waimea High School sophomore Kayla Ishida who improved to a second finish at 1:11.43, an improvement over her seeded 1:12.14 time, but falling short of the consideration cut (1:07.19).
Machorek also picked up a consideration time standard in the Girls 100 Yard Freestyle, touching at 55.82, an improvement over her seeded 57.87. She rounded out the day with a consideration swim in the Girls 50 Yard Freestyle, touching at 25.70, exactly the same as her 25.70 seeded time.
Sophie Britzmann, a Kaua‘i senior, also posted a consideration swim in the Girls 100 Yard Freestyle, breaking the minute mark on a 57.76 swim, an improvement over her seeded 1:00.58. Britzmann finished first in the Girls 200 Yard Freestyle on a 2:09.11 swim, nearly two seconds ahead of her 2:11.07 seeded swim, but still about three seconds short of the consideration cut of 2:06.79.
Yasmine Ware, a Kaua‘i sophomore, rounded out the auto and consideration swims for the Red Raiders, picking up a new consideration swim in the Girls 500 Yard Freestyle where she finished first on a 5:28.90.
Ware posted an auto swim in the Girls 200 Yard Individual Medley, touching at 2:14.81, a slower time than her 2:11.51 seeded time.
Machorek, Ware and Britzmann were joined by Tambrina Fairbanks, junior, in marking a new KIF meet record in the Girls 200 Yards Medley Relay.
Tambrina made her own splash in the Girls 100 Yard Breaststroke, touching the wall first on a 1:15.51 swim, an improvement of nearly four seconds from her seeded swim of 1:19.24. The swim is less than a half second short of a consideration cut (1:15.09).
Touching at 1:57.16, the Girls 200 Yard Medley Relay team’s combined swim surpassed the KIF meet record of 1:57.72 set by Kaua‘i in 2012.
In the boys’ pool, Kapa‘a sophomore Bryson Baligad picked up two consideration swims, getting a new time in the Boys 200 Yard IM where he touched at 2:11.99.
Baligad also marked a consideration swim in the Boys 100 Yard Freestyle, touching the wall at 51.43, three seconds below his seeded 51.40 swim.
He also posted an improvement in the Boys 100 Yard Breaststroke, touching first at 1:10.24, an improvement over his seeded 1:10.62, but short of the consideration cut (1:07.79).
Baligad was joined by Kai Haugland, Micah-Kamuela Nobriga-Ferris, and Don Maddock in securing a consideration swim for the Boys 200 Yards Medley Relay, the team stopping the clock at 1:58.90, behind its seeded swim of 1:57.99.
The Kapa‘a Boys 400 Yard Freestyle Relay team of Maddock, Jackson Littlefield, Nobriga-Ferris and James Wilmont picked up a consideration swim with its first finish at 4:02.74, an improvement over its seeded swim of 4:39.71.
The performance also egged on the Waimea relay team of Keenan McCracken, Chris Milan, Erik Siles and Michael Kocher which finished second at 4:03.00, bettering its seeded swim of 4:03.93.
The public is invited to view the KIF Championships, Saturday starting at 2 p.m. at the YMCA pool in Puhi.
• Dennis Fujimoto, photographer and staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 253) or dfujimoto@ thegardenisland.com.
