Sara Funtanilla, 7, returned home with a perfect meet from the Charles “Sparky” Kawamoto ABC Meet in Hilo. A perfect meet is where the swimmer improves in all of the events entered, and Funtanilla was six-for-six at the meet where
Sara Funtanilla, 7, returned home with a perfect meet from the Charles “Sparky” Kawamoto ABC Meet in Hilo.
A perfect meet is where the swimmer improves in all of the events entered, and Funtanilla was six-for-six at the meet where Mokihana Aquatics coach Orlando “O” Anaya said conditions were cold and wet.
“The kids were playing all weekend with their breaths, making what seemed like puffs of smoke, even visible while they swam,” Anaya said in an e-mail. “Yes, it was that cold.”
But that didn’t stop the 7-year-old from pushing to new personal best times, her biggest improvement coming in the 50 Back where she shaved 13.03 seconds from her previous time with a third place finish of 1:01.89Y.
Her personal best event came in the 50 Free where she posted a 9.04 improvement in her second place finish of 48.95Y.
Overall Funtanilla came home with three HI-B times: 25 Free (24.69Y), 25 Back (28.55Y) and 50 Free.
Kayla Ishida, 11, who just aged-up, also marked a perfect meet with a first finish and two third place finishes while posting her biggest improvement in the 100 Breast where she trimmed 20.33 on a 1:53.78Y swim for third place.
Ishida also brought back a HI-A time (50 Back – 40.86Y) and two HI-B times in the 100 Individual Medley (1:35.08Y) and the 50 Free (35.83Y). In the 50 Back, she posted a 1.75 improvement while in the 50 Free she finished with a .64 improvement.
“Despite the conditions, our nine swimmers swam 40 ‘best times’ in their 54 races entered,” Anaya said. “Every swimmer finished in the top three at least once. That’s 74.1 percent best times.”
Anaya said he usually considers a meet with 50 percent, or better best times a good meet.
Kaleiu‘i Hosaka, 10, returned with two HI-A times (50 Breast – 50.75Y and 100 Breast – 1:59.08Y) and a state qualifying time in the 50 Free (34.35Y). In attaining those results, Hosaka posted improvements of 5.63 in the 50 Breast, 9.42 in the 100 Breast and 5.16 in the 50 Free.
Other swimmers taking part in the Hilo meet included Kamalani Brun, 13, who had her biggest improvement in the 100 Fly (1:42.67Y) where she shaved 6.22 in a third place finish. Her second place finish came in the 200 IM (3:24.69Y) where she posted a 3.19 improvement.
Aaleiyah Chinen, 12, got a third place finish in the 100 Free (1:20.86Y), an improvement of .23.
Alexandra Croydon, 10, finished with a first, two seconds and a third place finish in her events, her biggest improvement coming in the 50 Breast (49.27Y) where she shaved 3.56 off her previoustime.
Jaycie Murata, 12, posted three first place finishes, her biggest improvement coming in the 100 Free (1:19.43Y) where she trimmed 3.28 in a first finish swim. Her other firsts came in the 50 Breast (47.18Y) and the 50 Free (33.72Y).
Micah-Kamuela Nobriga Ferris, 12, finished with a first, two seconds and a third with his first place coming in the 50 Free (37.08Y), an improvement of .64. His biggest improvement was in the 100 Back (1:52.36Y) where he finished eighth but gained 13.55 over his previous swim.
Kaikea Roe, 11, finished with a first and a second, the first place swim coming in the 50 Free (38.25Y) where he posted a 4.31 improvement. His second place finish came in the 50 Back (47.33Y) where he posted 15.96, but his biggest improvement came in the 100 Free (1:28.19Y) where he showed a 19.57 improvement.
Anaya said he was proud of the accomplishments of his Mokihana swimmers.
“All these memories are part of life lessons learned and human development towards being a better person, son, daughter, friend, swimmer and young adult,” Anaya said.
