LIHUE — Tyler Tanaka, 12, netted a Hawaii AAAA time standard in his first time out in the 200-yard butterfly Saturday at the Mokihana Keo Nakama qualifying meet at the Kauai High School pool. But with his birthday looming when
LIHUE — Tyler Tanaka, 12, netted a Hawaii AAAA time standard in his first time out in the 200-yard butterfly Saturday at the Mokihana Keo Nakama qualifying meet at the Kauai High School pool.
But with his birthday looming when he ages up to the Boys 13-14 division, Tanaka could only take pride in the accomplishment. Following 10 events over two days, Tanaka leaves the 12-year-old bracket with eight HI-AAA time standards, a single HI-AAAA, and one HI-AA times.
The Swimmer of the Meet award for this qualifying meet went to Leigh Idica who finished with six new best times, and one which tied her seeded time. The results saw two new HI-AA tome standards for the 11-year-old.
“The times confirmed what I saw,” said Mokihana Aquatics coach Orlando “O” Anaya. “Congrats to Leigh Idica for the Swimmer of the Meet award. She had six best times and one time in the 100 freestyle that duplicated her best time. She also made two new HI-AA Invitational times.”
Idica picked up HI-AA time standards in the 50 butterfly (34.28 seconds) where she sliced 1.46 seconds off her seeded time, and in the 50 freestyle (31.05) where she was 1.58 seconds better than her previous swim. She also picked up a new time in the 100 freestyle (1:11.69).
Anaya said the swimmers struggled during this meet.
“It is that time of the season. Coaches do this around the country at this time of the year — we schedule our training for the Hawaii State Championship,” Anaya said. “We create practices to accommodate our best swimmers in an effort to have everyone at that level. We train to be better, stronger, and smarter swimmers — to be the best we can be. Simple and direct.”
Alfred Auger, 10, coming off the Maui swim meet, added a personal best in the 100 backstroke (1:34.94) where he improved by 2.36 seconds, and Sara Funtanilla, 15, posted a 2.05-second improvement in her 200 yard breaststroke (3:20.88).
Keison Haraguchi, 11, posted six new best times in 10 events, his best swim coming in the 100 breaststroke where he touched the wall at 1:45.69 for a 12.28-second improvement.
Katy Hoesel, 12, posted two new best times, her strongest swim coming in the 100 backstroke (51.88) for a 4.35 improvement.
Maddie Hoesel, 15, was able to pick up a best time in the 50 freestyle (27.80) before running in the Haena-Hanalei run with her mother, and Rhett Leonard was impressive with four new best times in five swims, his biggest chops coming in the 200 Individual Medley (3:54.96) for an 18.61 improvement, and the 100 backstroke (1:53.19) for a 17.78-second gain.
Ian Raquel, 11, posted three new best times, his best swim coming in the 100 butterfly (1:27.83) for a 2.80-second gain.
Isabella Sorenson, 8, posted five new best times, her strongest showings coming in the 50 breaststroke (56.89) where she bettered her seeded swim by 14.34 seconds, and in the 100 backstroke (1:59.84) where she was 13.05 seconds better than her seeded swim.
Samantha Stokes, 14, picked up best times in the 200 freestyle (2:31.62) for a 3.72-second gain, and the 200 backstroke (3:00.39) where she was 3.18 seconds better.
