LIHU‘E n- Waimea, hosting the last KIF Swim Qualifier at the Kaua‘i High School pool had reason to be proud, not only was it one of three KIF events they were hosting, but their six-girl swim team captured gold in five of eight individual races Saturday.
Heading the Menehune effort was Katelyn Umetsu who finished as one of the day’s double winners, Umetsu topping the Girls 200 and 100 Free events.
The Kapa‘a Warriors, however, went home with the top honors in both the boys and girls team event, and, like last week’s meet, the Warrior men eked out a 1-point win over Kaua‘i, 85-84.
Kapa‘a women dominated the meet with 92 points over the closest competitor, host Waimea who tallied 58 points for second place in the team competition, third place Kaua‘i ending the day with 41 points.
The race for placement could be described in the Girls 100 Yard Fly race where Waimea junior Tiffani Tumbaga and Kapa‘a’s Maile BenDor came off the blocks for a tight race, but BenDor getting hung up on turn one to give Tumbaga a sizeable lead and the race, stopping the clock at 1:18.97.
But, BenDor, finishing at 1:33.99, and fellow Warrior stroker Tiana Amo finished second and third to give the event to Kapa‘a.
Kapa‘a’s Michael Maddock had a break-out meet, finishing one of the day’s double winners, and qualifying for a state berth in the Boys 100 Yard Fly with a 1:00.49, the state qualifying time at 1:01.80, Maddock coming through the back door in lane 2 to post a top finish in the 100 Yard Fly.
Maddock also posted a top finish in the Boys 200 IM, but fell short of qualifying for states in that event.
Jeremy Albano of Kapa‘a also qualified for the state berth in the Boys 100 Yard Breast stroke with a finish of 1:07.89, the state qualifying time at 1:08.72.
Keenan Anaya of Kaua‘i, finishing as another of the meet’s double winners, continued to qualify for more events at the state meet, breaking yet another record in the process as the second-year swimmer topped the Boys 50 Free, and qualified for the Boys 100 Free with a 51:41 finish, breaking the pool record of 52:59 set in 2003 by Bo Domingcel. The state qualifying time in that event is 53:45.
Kula High’s Wailana Waite rounded out the day’s double-winners, topping the Girls 200 IM at 2:49.56 before pocketing the gold in the Girls 500 Yard Free with a 6:53.57 mark.
This week’s KIF Qualifying Meet will be hosted by Kula School at the Kaua‘i High School Pool with the first event starting at 1 p.m.
