Swim Kauai Aquatics’ 18 swimmers finished tied for 10th place out of 24 teams participating in the Hawaii 2017 Long Course State Championship swim meet which wrapped up July 16 in Kihei, Maui. “Wow!” said SKA Coach Curt Colby. “It
Swim Kauai Aquatics’ 18 swimmers finished tied for 10th place out of 24 teams participating in the Hawaii 2017 Long Course State Championship swim meet which wrapped up July 16 in Kihei, Maui.
“Wow!” said SKA Coach Curt Colby. “It was a long four-day meet and everyone swam as well on the fourth day as the first. I’m so proud of them, their training and their commitment.”
Overall, SKA’s 18 swimmers collected more than 60 personal best times at the meet held at the Kihei Aquatic Center leading to its 10th place tie with the Iolani Swim Club, with both teams amassing 172 points. SKA team also copped 33 individual medals and eight medals for four swimmers on their Medley and Freestyle Relay teams earning second place finishes.
Leading the effort was Chloe Inouye, 10, who accomplished a personal best by securing a first finish in the 50-meter breaststroke by touching at 40.11 seconds, a three-second improvement over her previous time.
She finished in third place for high point honors in the Girls 10 and Under age group, being helped by a pair of second place finishes and a third place finish. Next on her radar is the Western Zone Championship which will contest Aug. 7 in Sacramento, Calif.
Jack Machorek, 16, picked up a “Futures” time standard, or a high-level national meet just below Junior Nationals, for his swim in the 200 freestyle where he touched at 1:57.80. This was just one of his three second place finishes, the other events being the 400-meter freestyle and the 400 Individual Medley.
Talen Koerte medaled in all six of his events, highlighted by a 15-second drop in the 100-meter butterfly (1:29.91), and Mahina Dameron, 10, swimming for the first time in a championship meet, medaled in all five of her events.
“We had a trio of distance specialists in Henry Scherer, Malia Splitstoesser, and Isaac Vallance,” Colby said. “Malia and Isaac had time drops of about 20 seconds in the 1,500-meter freestyle while Henry had more than an eight-second drop in the 400-meter freestyle.”
Eli Adams, 10, also swam in his first state meet, combining for a total drop of 30 seconds over three events — the 50-meter breaststroke, the 100-meter breaststroke, and the 200-meter freestyle.
Veteran swimmer Alana Cayabyab, 14, picked up a medal in the 200 butterfly in addition to a best time. She swam in three events, picking up best times in the 100 butterfly and the 200-meter breaststroke in addition to the 200 butterfly.
Hayley-Jay Kaeo, 14, posted the best long course times in all six of her individual events while her sister Heidee, 10, swimming her first state meet, dropped a combined 15 seconds in her two events, the 100 freestyle and the 50 backstroke.
Xaveria Rodriguez, 15, touched the wall at 28.53 in the 50 freestyle, and 1:02.07 in the 100-meter freestyle, being announced as the fastest long course girls sprinter on the team. She also dropped times in the 200-meter freestyle.
Lucas McSweeny, 12, medaled in the 100-meter backstroke (1:22.57) and posted best times in all of his events, never finishing lower than 11th place in all of his races.
Micah Vallance dropped six seconds in his 200-meter freestyle at his first state meet, and was also part of a Boys 10 and Under 200-meter freestyle relay team who picked up points with its sixth place finish.
Rounding out the field, Taimana Kjeldsen, Olivia McSweeny, and Ace Cayabyab swim on relays and earned points to help the team to its 10th place finish.
