Swimmers qualify at first meet

LIHUE – In the first ever KIF qualifying meet last Saturday, the Kapa’a girls and their underdog boys team splashed to a hard fought victory.

The Warrior girls have tremendous depth and are poised to repeat as champs with solid performances by Bristol King (100 breast), Maile Ben-Dor (50 free) and Liana Nakazawa (100 fly).

Double victories by the boys dynamic duo of last year’s KIF swimmer of the year Kelii Akana-Kaaihue (200 free & 100 back) and fellow all-star Jeremy Albano (500 free & 100 breast) led Kapa’a’s boys team to an early season upset of the powerhouse Kaua’i High.

Kapa’a qualified two boys relay team for the State championship in the 200 medley and 400 free relay respectively. Waimea’s super sophomore Katelyn Umetsu remains undefeated in KIF competition. Having never lost as a freshman, Umetsu continued her undisputed dominance of girls KIF swimming winning both her 500 free and 200 IM events.

Yet, the performance of Kauai High’s flying freshman Keenan Anaya continues to highlight KIF swimming as a whole. Anaya pulled off a most spectacular come from behind victory in the 50 free and had the only individual record broken, bettering his own 100 fly record by .32 seconds.

Anaya not only had the only individual record but also the only state qualifying time. Anaya was also part of Kaua’i’s incredible 400-yard free relay along with teammates Jared Perry (who also made a state qualifying time at the meet), Matt Murray and Jason Ebesu.

They shattered the KIF pool record by more than 8 seconds with a state qual. time. These were the only two records broken at the first KIF swim meet this past weekend.