Jack Machorek made a big splash entering the pool Saturday during the Kauai Interscholastic Federation qualifying swim meet at Kauai High School. He led the field of athletes, which finished the day with 13 new or better state qualifying swims.
Jack Machorek made a big splash entering the pool Saturday during the Kauai Interscholastic Federation qualifying swim meet at Kauai High School. He led the field of athletes, which finished the day with 13 new or better state qualifying swims.
Machorek, in addition to picking up state qualifying swims, beat KIF record times set by Bryson Baligad in 2015 during the 100 yard freestyle, touching the wall on a 48.41 seconds, and in the 100 yard backstroke (56.31). Baligad set the record with a 49.14 swim in the 100 freestyle and 56.85 in the backstroke events.
Baligad’s record in the 100 yard freestyle was bettered in 2016 by Akira Williams who touched at 49.27, but that time came during a qualifying meet and not the KIF Championships.
Machorek continued to churn the water, collecting a state swim in the 50 yard freestyle (22.45) where he missed beating a KIF record by a mere .14 second set in 1986 by Cory Carroll who touched at 22.31.
Kaira Ka‘aihue, who picked up her state swim last week at the Kapaa pool, blazed through two new state times and set a 2:21.34 pace in the girls 200 yard Individual Medley, and clocked 57.02 in the 100 yard freestyle.
Zachary Safford added to his state collection with a 50.32 swim in the 100 yard freestyle.
The top three girls 200 yard Medley Relay teams posted state times, including the Kapaa A team of Madeline Hoesel, Heather Faretta, Alana Tamashiro and Grace Stokes who finished first on a 2:07.75 swim, nearly two ticks ahead of runner-up Kauai High School A team (Malia Splittstoesser, Julia Safford, Kaira Ka‘aihue and Kelli Okayama) which touched at 2:09.36. The third place team of Kapaa B, including Lani Alo, Jordan Fleming, Chloe Zumwalt, and Lily Stokes, also made the state cut with its 2:10.22 swim.
The boys were not to be outdone as Kauai’s A team in the 200 Medley Relay, including Dutch Fairbanks, Zachary Safford, Jack Machorek and Tristan Hanks, picked up a state time by 10 seconds on its 1:48.46 swim.
Kapaa girls 200 yard Freestyle Relay A team, including Heather Faretta, Asianna Nelson, Madeline Hoesel and Juliana Tampus, picked up a state swim on a 1:52.69 touch — more than five seconds better than the runner-up team from Island School. The Kapaa boys 200 yard Freestyle Relay A team, including Pakela Panui, Kamanakai Lee, Makani Crowder and Marcus Robinson, also picked up a state time with its first place finish at 1:42.97, corralling the berth by 0.02 second.
Similar to the girls medley relay, the first two spots in the girls 400 yard freestyle relay earned state spots with the Kapaa A team, including Asha McGinnis, Asianna Nelson, Juliana Tampus and Grace Stokes, touching at 4:11.39 — less than two seconds ahead of Kauai’s A team, including Julia Safford, Malia Splittstoesser, Cassandra Hays and Kaira Ka‘aihue touching at 4:13.61.
Kauai boys 400 yard Freestyle Relay, including Zachary Safford, Luke Roberts, Dutch Fairbanks and Jack Machorek, rounded out the state swims on a 3:41.32 touch.
The next KIF qualifying swim moves to the YMCA pool Saturday at 10 a.m. hosted by Island School. The KIF Championships take place at the YMCA pool on Jan. 28 starting at 2 p.m.
