LIHU‘E — Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation swimmers keep adding to the island’s roster of state-meet-qualifying swims Saturday at the YMCA pool.
Swimmers finished the day with 14 qualifying swims, many being attempts at bettering their respective seeded times, while others sought qualifying spots in new events.
One of those included Kaimaira Silva of Kaua‘i High, who qualified in girls 200-yard freestyle with a second-place finish on a swim of 2 minutes, 3.56 seconds, and the girls 50 freestyle, where she finished first on a 25.82 swim. She also bettered her time in the girls 100 freestyle, where she finished second to Chloe Inouye (54.21) on a swim of 56.32, bettering her previous swim of 57.66.
Island School sophomore Inouye set the pace by collecting and improving her previous qualifying swims, starting with the girls 200 freestyle, where she finished first in 1:57.76, an improvement over her earlier 1:59.11 time. The event saw three state-qualifying swims, including Silva and Mahina Dameron of Island School, who touched the wall third in 2:06.15, qualifying for the state and bettering her seeded swim of 2:07.18.
Inouye also added a new qualifying swim in the girls 100 backstroke, where she finished first in 1:02.57.
Kapa‘a High senior Tyler Tanaka picked up a qualifying swim in the boys 200 freestyle, where he touched first on a 1:52.87 swim, nearly two seconds ahead of the qualifying standard of 1:54.79.
Kaua‘i High senior Kai Mottley improved on his boys 100 butterfly finish, in 55.31, bettering his earlier qualifying time of 57.16.
Kapa‘a junior Ian Raquel picked up a new qualifying swim in the boys 100 breaststroke on a 1:06.31 swim, where he touched first over Kaua‘i’s Kailash Letman.
More swimming continues Saturday when the KIF hosts the final tournament before the KIF championships at the YMCA pool. The first event hits the water at 8 a.m.
