LIHUE — Alfred Auger picked up his second Swimmer of the Meet honor in just over two weeks. Auger, 10, was named Swimmer of the Meet following his performance at the 30th Charles “Sparky” Kawamoto ABC meet at the “Sparky”
LIHUE — Alfred Auger picked up his second Swimmer of the Meet honor in just over two weeks.
Auger, 10, was named Swimmer of the Meet following his performance at the 30th Charles “Sparky” Kawamoto ABC meet at the “Sparky” Kawamoto Swim Stadium in Hilo, Hawaii that wrapped up over the weekend.
“Alfred was nearly ‘perfect,’ going six of seven best times, and making new HI-AA Invitational times in five events,” said Mokihana Aquatics coach Orlando “O” Anaya. “Great swims, Alfred! Congratulations on your second Mokihana Aquatics Swimmer of the Meet award.”
Auger was one of six Mokihana Aquatics athletes participating in the off-island meet. Other swimmers included Elijah Adams, 10, Leigh Idica, 11, Kaikili La‘a-Moranz-Asuncion, 8, Rhett Leonard, 8, and Kaeleb Santiago, 8.
Anaya was queried by a parent on how the swimmers were doing following the first day of the meet.
“I thought to myself that in 28 years that we have been going to Sparky’s, it has always given us some of our most useful times,” Anaya said. “Our five nationally-ranked Mokihana swimmers all got their start at Sparky’s; our numerous record breakers and state champions all started at Sparky’s.”
Auger finished with five HI-AA time standards, his best swim coming in the 100-meter butterfly where he touched the wall at 1 minute, 35.68 seconds for an improvement of 18.07 seconds over his seeded time. He also posted HI-AA times in the 50-meter breaststroke (47.23), 50-meter butterfly (43.20), 100-meter backstroke (1:37.30), and the 50-meter freestyle (36.44).
“Leigh made her first HI-AA time in her new 11-12 age group in the 100-meter butterfly (1:20.24), going nearly four seconds faster than her seeded time,” Anaya said. “Awesome. She was also the only girl in the group and was great as my personal assistant.”
Idica finished the meet with personal bests in four of her eight events.
Aams made his mark in six personal best swims, his strongest showing coming in the 100-meter Individual Medley where he finished first on a 1:36.43 swim, an improvement of 8.56 seconds.
“As always, our 8 and Unders always steal the show,” Anaya said. “Kili, Kaeleb, and Rhett were simply amazing — swimming in their first travel meet.”
Leonard finished with improvements in all of the six events he swam, the best showing coming in the 25-meter butterfly where he touched the wall at 26.49 for a 6.30-second improvement over his seeded swim. He also took nearly six seconds off his 50 backstroke where he finished first on a 54.30 swim.
Santiago finished with six personal best times, his strongest swim coming in the 50-meter breaststroke where he finished first on a 57.01 swim, an improvement of 13.43 seconds.
La‘a-Moranz-Asuncion ended the meet with two personal bests, his strongest showing coming in the 50-meter backstroke where he took off more than four seconds on his 1:06.72 swim.
