PUHI – Kate Machorek, 12, earned her first ZONE swim Saturday. But Machorek, first out of the water at the recent Kaua‘i Loves You triathlon, picked up her time in the 50 yard Backstroke on a 30.37 swim under the
PUHI – Kate Machorek, 12, earned her first ZONE swim Saturday.
But Machorek, first out of the water at the recent Kaua‘i Loves You triathlon, picked up her time in the 50 yard Backstroke on a 30.37 swim under the eyes of six-time Olympian and American record-holder Amy Van Dyken at the Swim Kaua‘i Aquatics meet Saturday.
The meet was hosted by SKA and the American Renaissance Academy of O‘ahu.
“What an amazing day,” said Billy Brown, SKA coach who swam with Van Dyken in the 2000 Olympic trials. “The kids swam phenomenally, setting new time standards, breaking time barriers, and showing huge improvements in their events. It was a very fun way to spend the day.”
Rain Owen, 9, earned her first state qualifying time in the 50 yard Breaststroke, chopping more than six seconds off her previous time when she touched the wall on a 45.28 swim.
Jeff Casey, the SKA Westside coach, was thrilled because this was the first-ever state time for the SKA Westside, states a SKA release.
Owen additionally earned a AA time in her 100 Breaststroke (1:41.02), slicing 12.95 seconds off her previous swim.
Tyler Keith, 13, and Quinn Hannah-White, 13, both joined the “Break A Minute” club in the 100 yard freestyle, Keith stopping the clock at 59.05 and Hannah-White touching at 59.48 under the strong cheering from Coach Brown.
Anya Littlefield, a state contender from the Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation swim season, and Yasmine Ware, second out of the water at Kaua‘i Loves You and part of the winning relay team, both broke five minutes for the first time in their careers in the 400 Yard Individual Medley.
Littlefield finished with a 4:55.69, trimming 6.17 seconds off her previous swim, and Ware stopping the clocks at 4:56.63 for an improvement of 12.08 seconds.
Amber Hopkins led a pack of swimmers who posted big improvements in the 500-Yard freestyle, touching at 6:38.96 for an improvement of 47.58 seconds. Tambrina Fairbanks, 13, stopped the clocks at 6:39.03 for a 29.25-second improvement and Erik Safford, 13, chopped 18.54 seconds in his 6:13.44 swim.
Sophie Britzmann, 14, touched at 6:03.01 for a 5.07 second improvement and Hannah-White stopped the clock at 5:52.33 for a 5.07 second improvement.
Stacey Machorek, the community outreach officer for SKA, noted that many SKA swimmers posted improvements including Athena Alexander, Sam Britzmann, Sophie Britzmann, Saber Fairbands, and Maida Koetje, 9, who chopped 12.61 seconds off her 100-yard Freestyle event.
Van Dyken, who offered a high-five to Kate following her ZONE qualifying swim, is here on vacation with husband Tom Rouen, two-time Super Bowl Champion punter for the Denver Broncos.
The couple stopped by to watch the young swimmers in action; Stacey Machorek noted that Van Dyken won six Gold Medals in swimming in the 1996 and 2000 Olympics.
Van Dyken, who started swimming to help combat asthma, was the first American woman to win four Gold medals at one Olympics in 1996 in Atlanta. She is the only American woman to have ever won Gold in the 50-meter freestyle at the Olympics, and the last American woman to win Gold in the 100-meter butterfuly.
Leading to the Olympics, Van Dyken swam for Colorado State University, earning NCAA Female Swimmer of the Year in 1994 and the ESPN Female Athlete of the Year in 1996.
The SKA swimmers will take a break from training for the Long Course State Championships by hosting a car wash to help defray expenses for the O‘ahu trip.
The SKA swimmers will be washing cars at Kukui Grove Center Saturday morning.
