Alana Cayabyab, 11, had a near-perfect meet on Maui during the 40th annual Coach Soichi Sakamoto Invitational Meet which wrapped up Sunday. Cayabyab finished the meet with improvements in nine of the 10 events she swam in. “Our Mokihana Aquatics
Alana Cayabyab, 11, had a near-perfect meet on Maui during the 40th annual Coach Soichi Sakamoto Invitational Meet which wrapped up Sunday.
Cayabyab finished the meet with improvements in nine of the 10 events she swam in.
“Our Mokihana Aquatics Swimmer of the Meet, Alana, was nearly flawless,” said Mokihana Aquatics coach Orlando “O” Anaya. “She improved in nine of 10 races and made her first state QUAL time after aging up just a few short months ago.”
Cayabyab touched the wall in 1 minute, 23.60 seconds for the 100 Butterfly swim for her QUAL swim, an improvement of 3.22 over her seeded time.
“This young 11-year-old was racing in the 11-12 division with some girls who are just about to turn 13, and who were subsequently tall than she is,” Anaya said. “Going into the meet, she had no top 10 seedings, yet she placed in the top 8 in three races (100 Fly, 200 Individual Medley – 3:01.4, 50 Fly – 36.90) and finished with five races in the top 10.”
Mokihana Aquatics also had performances from two other swimmers — Nevaeh Ibanez, 9, and Micah-Kamuela Nobriga-Ferris, 17.
Anaya said Nobriga-Ferris is back in the water with just about a month after taking off for more than a year to pursue other activities.
“As expected, he struggles,” Anaya said. “Yet, for his lack of pool time and training, Micah gives it his all — holding form well, and has one of the best starts of all in his age group. Once Micah makes his commitment to swimming full time like before, we should see some great things from him.”
Nobriga-Ferris swam in six events, his best showing coming in the 100 Free where he touched at 1:05.38 for a 1.24 improvement.
Anaya said Nevaeh is “so exciting to watch because despite all her mistakes, she is only 9 years old and is already swimming with some of the best 10 and Under swimmers in the state.”
“I say ‘exciting to watch’ because as her coach, I imagine the day when we fix everything and see that the sky’s the limit for her,” Anaya said. “Nevaeh definitely has a great swimming career ahead of her. You go, girl! She even penned a new slogan for Mokihana Aquatics — Purple Perfection.”
Ibanez, despite her DQ, posted improvements in three of her six events, the best coming in the 100 Breaststroke (1:51.3) for a 4.55 improvement and in the 50 Fly (44.45) for a 4.15 improvement.
“I want to talk about something else,” Anaya said. “The Inouye ohana led by John ‘Super Dad’ decided to come to this meet on Maui to experience an Invitational, Long Course event. OK, cool. But then, they were with the team the entire time, not only at the meet from beginning to end, but having lunch and dinner with us. They were yelling and screaming the loudest for every single race that Micah, Alana and Nevaeh swam, and were the consummate supporters. The Ibanez and Cayabyab ohana were equally supportive, but to have a family there whose swimmer is not even swimming, that’s outstanding. Over the top, really.”
