Maliana Kaui, Kaeo Kruse, Tori Kobayashi and Sinead Sims earned their first state times at the Swim Kaua‘i Aquatics’ time trials, Saturday. “We went from having 15 state-qualified swimmers to 19 following this meet,” said SKA coach Billy Brown in
Maliana Kaui, Kaeo Kruse, Tori Kobayashi and Sinead Sims earned their first state times at the Swim Kaua‘i Aquatics’ time trials, Saturday.
“We went from having 15 state-qualified swimmers to 19 following this meet,” said SKA coach Billy Brown in a press release. “I’m very proud of all our swimmers who worked so hard to get ready for this meet.”
The day-long time trials featured 61 athletes from Kaua‘i between the ages of 6 to 17 years competing at the new YMCA Olympic Pool facility.
Brown said the combination of work on stroke technique and training hours showed its success for the SKA swimmers.
“We had 24 children who recently joined SKA participate in this meet,” Brown said. “For many, it was their first swim meet while for others, it was their first meet with SKA. It was wonderful to see so many young athletes in the water.”
In addition to the four SKA swimmers who earned their state times, other veteran swimmers saw Ryann Linthicum pick up a state time in the 400-yard Individual Medley, Anya Littlefield picking up a time in the 200-yard Backstroke, Aaron Pigott getting a time in the 100-yard Breaststroke, Desiree Pia picking up a time in the 100-yard Freestyle.
Kaui nailed her state time in the 50-yard Freestyle while Kobayashi earned state times in the 50- and 100-yard Freestyle events. Sims earned her time in the 200-yard Breaststroke and Kruse earned state times in the 50-yard Backstroke and the 50-yard Freestyle.
Additionally, Chelsea Chock, James Papa, Kiki Abrams and Talia Abrams earned their first AA times and are now qualified to swim at invitational swim meets.
“We have seen tremendous growth of our team, recently,” Brown said.
The SKA coach said he plans to work and focus the team on the upcoming Bill Smith Invitational Swim Meet on O‘ahu in October as well as aim toward the next SKA meet in November.
