HONOLULU — Ahead of the first Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation qualifying swim meet coming Jan. 7, 2023 at the YMCA pool in Puhi, Kaua‘i High School took a team of swimmers to participate in the 45th annual Dorothy Aki/Kalani High School Invitational that wrapped up Dec. 17 on O‘ahu.
“Eli Adams, Lilia Gordines, Liam Juvan, Talen Koertge, Brandon Lin, and led by Team Captain Kamaira Silva, performed exceptionally well overall,” said Kelsey Tanaka, the Kaua‘i High swim coach. “The boys placed third, and the girls finished 11th.”
The competitive field included Mililani, host Kalani, Roosevelt, perennial powerhouse Punahou, Kaiser and others. Kaua‘i High was the sole outer island school to participate
Koerte placed first in both the 100-yard butterfly and 100 backstroke. In the butterfly event, he swam a personal best of 54.99 seconds.
Lin, described by Tanaka as “an up-and-coming star,” placed first in the 100 breaststroke with a swim of 1:02.07. He also finished second in the 200 individual medley, which propelled him to finish second in individual scores for the boys.
“Due to unfortunate timing, several of the girls couldn’t travel with the team due to illness,” Tanaka said. “That left our two girls, Kamaira Silva and Lilia Gordines, to show what we had. Kamaira ran away with her events, keeping many of her competitors in check and not letting them gain any ground, or water.”
Silva finished third in the 200 freestyle with a time of 2:-04.12, and fourth in the 100 freestyle on a 56.60 swim for an overall sixth place in the girls division.
“Not to be out done by her team captain, Lilia didn’t make it to the finals in her 100 yard free, but making it in the 100 breaststroke by cutting three seconds off her best time at 1:21.43,” Tanaka said.
The duo of Adams and Juvan took on the same events — the 50 and 100 freestyle.
“Battling it out, trying to one-up each other and achieve best times, Eli out-touched Liam in the 50 free preliminaries, resulting in both making the finals,” Tanaka said. “Liam out-touched Eli in the end with a 25.34 swim to 25.67 that put Liam in fifth place, and Eli in seventh place. Eli’s finish cut two seconds from his previous year for a best time for him.”
In the 100 freestyle, Juvan finished in 55.37 swim, placing fourth, and Adams finished at 56.53 for ninth place.
“The athletes represented what big surprises can come from the small island of Kaua‘i,” Tanaka said. “We’ve come away with an impressive showing and very fruitful results of the athletes’ hard work. Now, the training continues to move forward, as well as look towards the KIF champs, and onward to states.”
Curt Colby and Tanaka are the Raider coaches.
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Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 808-245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
