LIHU‘E — People are invited to the free two-day 24th Mokihana Aquatics Fun Meet Saturday and Sunday at the Kaua‘i High School pool. “This is the biggest meet in the 24 times we’ve hosted the event,” said Mokihana Aquatics Coach
LIHU‘E — People are invited to the free two-day 24th Mokihana Aquatics Fun Meet Saturday and Sunday at the Kaua‘i High School pool.
“This is the biggest meet in the 24 times we’ve hosted the event,” said Mokihana Aquatics Coach Orlando “O” Anaya. “Right now, we have eight swim teams from Kaua‘i, Big Island, Maui and O‘ahu with 108 swimmers registered.”
Events start Saturday with opening ceremonies starting at 9 a.m. and the first swim events from about 9:30 a.m. on Sunday, events start at 9 a.m. with the meet wrapping up around 1 p.m., Anaya said.
The free event is hosted by Mokihana Aquatics and sanctioned by USA Swimming and Hawaiian Swimming.
“There will be a food booth and a Speedo swim shop, so people will have a lot of opportunities to support these young swimmers,” Anaya said. “Who knows? Maybe one of them will be at a future Olympics.”
Lloyd Yonemura, known affectionately as the Moloka‘i Flash and the voice of Hawai‘i swimming, will be returning to Kaua‘i to emcee both days of the meet.
Participating swim clubs include the Warrior Aquatics and Hilo Aquatics from the Big Island, the Maui Swim Club, the Hawai‘i Swim Club out of Kapolei, O‘ahu, the Pearl City Aquatics and the Hickam Swim Club from O‘ahu.
Swim Kaua‘i Aquatics will also be fielding swimmers to the meet, Anaya said.
Adding to the competitive edge, each swim club will be doing a cheer, or skit.
“This year, the East Kaua‘i Lions Club who has been with Mokihana Aquatics since the very first Fun Meet — will be joining the swim clubs in presenting a skit, too,” Anaya said. “Last year, they came out with some ‘ukulele, but when I spoke with a lady in the club, she said the club has been practicing for two months.”
Anaya said the very first Mokihana Aquatics Fun Meet was held in 1982. It was the idea of Reiko Yoshida’s grandfather, Yoshida currently a girls soccer coach for Kaua‘i High School.
“Reiko used to swim for Mokihana back then,” Anaya said. “Her grandfather was the first event coordinator for the Fun Meet.”
He said a lot of people ask why the event is not called an “annual” event.
“We’ve had 24 meets, but there was some time where we couldn’t have the meets,” Anaya said. “There were three years when we laid off because of the hurricane, and there were two years we couldn’t have the meet because there were no pools.”
This year, there is no hurricane, the Kaua‘i High School pool is functioning fine and the meet will start at 9 a.m. Saturday.
Visit www.mokihanaaquatics.com or call 821-0587, or 651-4216 for more information.
