PUHI — Following the trend in the Kauai Interscholastic Federation qualifying swim meets, seven KIF records toppled Saturday when Island School hosted the KIF swimming championships at the YMCA Pool. “I hope I’m not too late,” said Aaron Habermann, holder
PUHI — Following the trend in the Kauai Interscholastic Federation qualifying swim meets, seven KIF records toppled Saturday when Island School hosted the KIF swimming championships at the YMCA Pool.
“I hope I’m not too late,” said Aaron Habermann, holder of the 1987 KIF record in the boys 100-yard breaststroke. “I heard there’s a guy who is pretty close to the record, and I had to be here if he breaks the record.”
Riley Young, a junior at Kauai High School, worked through the day to finally edge past the record, touching the wall at 1 minute, 4.21 seconds to earn first place, an auto state swim, and bettering Habermann’s record of 1:04.86 by .65 second.
Other KIF records that dropped included the girls 100-yard butterfly by Kauai senior Yasmine Ware, who also topped the girls 100-yard freestyle record; the boys 500-yard freestyle by Kauai freshman Jack Machorek; and the boys 200-yard medley relay with Jack Machorek, Young, Zachary Safford and Hikari Oberman who smashed the 2004 KIF standard by nearly five seconds.
Those performances by Kauai swimmers gave the KIF team titles to the Kauai women who collected 90 points over a hard-fighting Kapaa High School who finished with 54 points. Island School and Waimea women rounded out the field with 39 and 15 points, respectively, despite the two schools earning state swims.
On the boys’ side of the pool, Kauai High School boys topped the scoring at 107 points followed by the Warrior men collecting 49 points with Island School (33 points) and Waimea High School (2 points) rounding out the field.
The power performance by the Red Raiders raised its head early when the boys medley relay team, comprised of swimmers who collected their own individual KIF records and state swims, bashed the 2004 record set by another Kauai team of 1:50.01.
The boys team splashed through the strokes in nearly-perfect swimming conditions of quiet water, near windless conditions and crisp morning air to touch at 1:45.67, nearly five seconds better than the KIF record, and securing a state auto swim by more than two seconds.
Among the collection of notable swims, KIF swimmers pocketed 14 state auto swims, including the four KIF records, and 16 consideration swims during the title meet which was followed by the collective awards and senior recognitions.
The Machorek family, including senior Kate, and freshman Jack, set the pace for the field as freshman Jack was part of the boys medley relay and boys 200-yard freestyle relay and pocketed his own auto time in the 500-yard freestyle (5:00.86) while bettering the KIF record of 5:05.45 set in 2006 by Ben Baldwin. He rounded out his day with a consideration swim, finishing first in the boys 200-yard freestyle (1:51.88).
His sister Kate ended the day with four auto swims in four events, being part of the girls 200-yard medley relay and girls 200-yard freestyle relay teams while adding her own auto swims in the girls 200-yard free (1:57.60) and girls 500-yard free (5:14.84) events.
Kauai senior Yasmine Ware was another perfect swimmer, finishing with four auto swims in four events while breaking two KIF records. Ware topped the girls 100-yard butterfly on a 56.49 swim, besting the 1:03.81 standard set in 2010 by Kapaa’s Anya Littlefield.
She continued to reap record-breaking accolades, stopping the clock at 54.44 in the girls 100-yard free, topping the Littlefield 2011 record of 55.49. She was also part of the girls 200-yard free relay (1:42.39) which equalled the KIF record set in 2013 by a Kauai team of which she was a part.
Kapaa’s Bryson Baligad, a senior, topped the hardware for the Warriors, securing a KIF record in the boys 200-yard individual medley where he touched the wall at 2:05.15, bettering the record of 2:07.60 set in 2006 by Baldwin.
He rounded out his day with another KIF record-breaking swim in the boys 100-yard freestyle (49.53), bettering the 1986 record of 49.96 set by Cory Carroll. His other swim was a consideration with the boys 200-yard free relay team.
KIF swimmers next head to the 2015 OC16 Hawaii High School Athletic Association Swimming and Diving Championships scheduled for Feb. 20 and 21 at the Veterans’ Memorial Aquatic Center at the Central Oahu Regional Park.
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Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
