PUHI — Kauai High School swimmers Kamaira Silva and Kai Mottley each picked up two state qualifying times, Saturday during the Kauai Interscholastic Federation qualifying swim meet hosted by Island School at the YMCA pool.
KIF swimmers from four participating schools — Kapaa, Kauai, Waimea, and Island School — finished the qualifying meet by picking up six new state qualifying swims, led by Silva and Mottley with two state cuts.
Silva, already earning five state cuts from previous meets, picked up two individual times in the Girls 50 yard freestyle where she finished first with a 25.62-second swim, surpassing the state standard of 25.99. The Kauai High School freshman’s performance in the event was nearly a second-and-a-half faster than the second-place finisher from Kapaa who touched the wall a full second short of the state mark.
Silva picked up her second state cut in the Girls 500 yard freestyle with her first finish swim that stopped the clocks at 5:32.10, nearly eight seconds better than the state standard.
Mottley, a Kauai High School sophomore, picked up his individual state cut in the Boys 200 yard freestyle event where he finished first, touching the wall at 1:52.04, getting past the state qualifying 1:54.79.
His second qualifying mark came with the Boys 200 yard Medley Relay where he anchored the team — including Jacob Rich, Ryden Williams, Kai Mottley, and Kai Norman — in the breaststroke phase as the team clocked a first finish of 1:51.26, soaring past the state mark of 1:58.29.
It also was a benchmark for the team who finished second during last week’s meet to the state qualifying Kapaa team. The Kapaa team, including Ian Raquel, Tyler Tanaka, Kamalei Berg, and Braden Chang, finished second to the Kauai team with a 1:58.09 performance, qualifying for the state by just .20 second.
The Kapaa Boys 200 yard freestyle Relay team, including Berg, Raquel, Chang, and Tanaka, finished first in its event on a 1:41.83 swim, surpassing the state mark of 1:42.49.
The KIF qualifying meets continue Saturday, hosted by Kauai High School with the first events hitting the water at 10 a.m. at the YMCA pool.
