KAPAA — A perfect swim meet carried the Mokihana Aquatics to its second win in the Spirit contest in 26 years. Lily Stokes, 13, was the Mokihana Aquatics coaches’ unanimous choice as Swimmer of the Meet for the Fun Meet
KAPAA — A perfect swim meet carried the Mokihana Aquatics to its second win in the Spirit contest in 26 years.
Lily Stokes, 13, was the Mokihana Aquatics coaches’ unanimous choice as Swimmer of the Meet for the Fun Meet which wrapped up Sunday at the Kapaa Pool.
Mokihana Coach Orlando “O” Anaya said this was only the second time in the club’s 26-year history where it won the Spirit contest.
“It was done in grand fashion,” Anaya said. “Lily Stokes was assigned the lead role in organizing cheer by her sister, Gracie Stokes, the club’s team leader. It was a sweet victory for us, and the screams of victory was so emotional, I think I shed a tear or two.”
Lily finished with improvements in all seven events she swam in, collecting a pair of gold medals while piling up personal best times. Her best event was in the 100 butterfly with a 1:23.00 swim, slicing 9.75 seconds off her seeded time, but finishing in second place. She also posted an improvement of 8.40 seconds in the 100 freestyle where she picked up one of her two gold medals.
Mokihana Aquatics, as host for the event, fielded 18 swimmers with Kaile McKeown, 10, and Destry Shibuya, 12, joining Stokes with perfect meets.
Shibuya posted improvements in the 10 events he swam in, collecting six gold medals over the two days. His best events came in the 100 butterfly where he touched the wall at 1:39.46, an improvement of 16.15 seconds, a gold medal swim, and in the 200 individual medley where he touched at 3:23.67, a fourth place finish but a personal best by 15.62 seconds.
McKeown’s top swim in 10 events came in the 200 IM where she touched at 3:32.65, an improvement of 18.54 over her seeded swim and in the 100 IM (1:42.62), where she swam 14.31 seconds faster than her seeded time.
Anaya said he tries not to over-emphasize the work being done by the club’s 8-year-old swimmers, but the accomplishments of the four 8-year-olds at the two-day meet was worth highlighting.
“Fiona Godsill was sick, but still swam Saturday,” Anaya said. “Her condition got worse, but she still showed up Sunday to support her team.”
During Fiona’s Saturday swim, she finished five events, posting improvements in two of them, including the 100 freestyle where she cut 10.31 seconds off her seeded swim, and in the 25 yard breaststroke, cut 5.34 seconds off her previous best swim.
“Another 8 and Under, Keison Haraguchi, broke four team records while gaining two personal bests,” Anaya said.
Haraguchi, 8, chopped 30.65 seconds off his 100 freestyle, touching the wall at 1:30.33 and bettering a team record set by Matthew Holzman at the 2002 Fun Meet (1:35.47). Haraguchi also set records in the 50 backstroke (48.83), the 100 backstroke (1:48.49), and the 100 breaststroke (2:27.70).
Chloe Inouye, 8, swam in 10 races and had 10 best times and broke time records in all her races.
Inouye posted a 34.69 second improvement in her 100 breaststroke where she touched at 1:48.43. That performance broke the record of her teammate, Nevaeh Ibanez, who set the standard (1:56.58) during the 2013 Fun Meet.
Inouye’s swim in the 50 butterfly clocked in at 41.57 seconds for a 7.56 second improvement and breaking a record set by Yasmine Ware, now a junior at Kauai High School, set in 2005 at 53.06. Inouye also broke a record set by Sarah Faraola in 2001 for the 50 backstroke, touching at 45.05 for a 6.78 second improvement and besting the 2001 standard of 47.09.
