Yasmine Ware and Kate Machorek led the Kaua‘i High School girls swim team to a fifth-place finish — one of the best finishes by a Kaua‘i team ever — in the OC16 Hawai‘i High School Athletic Association Swimming and Diving Championships,
Yasmine Ware and Kate Machorek led the Kaua‘i High School girls swim team to a fifth-place finish — one of the best finishes by a Kaua‘i team ever — in the OC16 Hawai‘i High School Athletic Association Swimming and Diving Championships, which wrapped up Saturday at the Duke Kahanamoku Aquatics Complex on O‘ahu.
Ware also repeated as the state champ in the 50-yard freestyle, said Dan Britzmannn, a Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation swim official who served as the starter for the state meet.
“The Kaua‘i girls team of 2012-2013 was, by far and away, the best high school team to represent the KIF; no team from Kaua‘i has even scored since prior to 1998,” Britzmann added in an e-mail.
The Kaua‘i High School girls finished with 23 points. Mid-Pacific Institute took top honors with 54.5 points followed by Kealakehe (38.5 points), Punahou (37 points) and ‘Iolani (27 points) in fourth place.
Kamehameha Schools-Kapalama campus topped the boys’ competition with 60 points followed by Punahou (47 points), Mililani (22 points), Seabury Hall (18 points) and Hilo High School (15 points) in fifth place.
Britzmann said that several state records fell, marking this event as one of the fastest overall state meets in Hawai‘i history.
Ware finished first in the girls’ 50-yard freestyle, stopping the clocks at 23.79 in the preliminaries held Friday, and bettering her time to a blistering 23.75 in the finals Saturday.
The Kaua‘i High School sophomore also finished second in the girls’ 100-yard backstroke. She swam a 58:68 in the prelims, just .04 seconds off state champ Anu Nihipali of Hawai‘i Preparatory Academy.
But Nihipali found the turbojet in the finals, stopping the clock at 57.45, almost a second ahead of Ware’s 58.31.
Machorek, also a sophomore, found her success with a fourth-place finish in the girls’ 200-yard freestyle, touching the wall at 1:55.72.
“In Machorek’s 200-freestyle event, second, third and her fourth finishes were decided within .8 second in the finals,” said Britzmann.
Rebecca Walton of Mid-Pacific nailed second place at 1:54.81; Beth Tsuha of Hilo High School locked in third place at 1:55.47; followed by Machorek getting fourth with a 1:55.72 swim.
Machorek also added a fifth-place finish in the girls’ 500-yard freestyle, stopping the clocks at 5:07.55 in the preliminaries and ending with a 5:13.61 swim in the finals.
For the girls’ 200-yard freestyle relay team, Machorek took the opening leg (25.12) followed by senior Kaitlin Santos (25.83), senior Sophie Britzmann (25.83) and Ware swimming the anchor leg (23.35). Overall, the team opened with a 1:42.56 preliminary swim, improving to 1:41.72 in the finals for second place.
“During the final, the girls’ 200-free relay team pushed hard and set a new Kaua‘i High School record,” Dan said. “The KIF record the team set on Jan. 26 was 1:42.39, an astounding 2.27-second improvement.”
Machorek also opened the girls’ 200-yard medley relay event, a feat she did several times during the team’s KIF record-breaking performance. Touching with a 28.27 on her backstroke leg, Machorek handed off to Tambrina Fairbanks, a junior Kapa‘a High school transfer who swam the breaststroke leg at 34.12 before triggering Ware in the Butterfly leg (25.83) and anchored by Sophie Britzmann (26.60).
The Kaua‘i High School boys were represented at the state meet by Andrew Beeksma, Tyler Elwin, Kainoa Matsumoto, Jacob Peck and Riley Young in the boys 200-yard medley and 400-yard freestyle relays, Dan Britzmann said.
The Kapa‘a Warriors were led by Bryson Baligad, a sophomore who marked personal bests in the 50-yard freestyle (22.48) and the 100-yard butterfly (55.31).
Baligad was joined by Kai Haugland, Don Maddock, Micah-Kamuela Nobriga-Ferris and Jackson Littlefield in the relay events.
Kapa‘a’s girls included Kiana Flores, Maluhia Stark-Kinimaka, Abi Stein and Mainei Aloha Kinimaka who swam the 200-yard and 400-yard freestyle relays.
None of the KIF boys made the individual or team medal standings.
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