NAWILIWILI — Kate Machorek finished with two first places and a second place and Pierce Murphy ended with two first place finishes to top the Island Finals of the Kaua‘i Ocean Safety Bureau Junior Lifeguard program, Saturday at Kalapaki Beach.
NAWILIWILI — Kate Machorek finished with two first places and a second place and Pierce Murphy ended with two first place finishes to top the Island Finals of the Kaua‘i Ocean Safety Bureau Junior Lifeguard program, Saturday at Kalapaki Beach.
Machorek, coming off a strong showing at the state long course swimming meet, finished first in the Girls 13-14 division 200 Meter Swim and the Run-Swim-Run event. She rounded out the day with a second finish in the 1000 Meter Run event.
Murphy, the first Hawai‘i High School Athletic Association Hall of Famer for Island School, topped the 1000 Meter Run in the Boys 15-17 division, and after being as far back as third in the Run-Swim-Run event, unleashed his running legs to take the event on the top end.
Overall, the Kalapaki class, closing with an invitation to enjoy the Water Day hosted by the Young Entrepreneurs of Kaua‘i, Friday, topped the field of five sites with 153 points, edging out Hanalei who ended with 111 points after locking in top honors in the Paddle Board Relay, the final event of the day.
The Hanalei Boys edged out three Kalapaki teams to take the event, while the two Hanalei wahine teams edged out the Kalapaki No. 2 and Kalapaki No. 1 teams in that event where six paddlers would take turns paddling out to a buoy turnaround and back to the beach before relaying the board to the next paddler.
Po‘ipu edged out Salt Pond with 40 points to Salt Pond’s 33 points and Lydgate rounded out the overall points standings with 23 points.
Following Machorek in the 13-14 Girls 200 Meter Swim, Tambrina Fairbanks and Kiana Forres rounded out the leaders while Bryson Baligad topped the Boys division over Kamu Ferris and Kaeo Kruse.
Sophia Britzman topped the Girls 15-17 division with Kaikea Elias topping the Boys 15-17 division in that event.
Beach Flags is always a crowd pleaser and this year did not disappoint as Maliana Kaui topped the Girls 13-14 division over Wailana Condeza and Tyler Scheilds.
Noah Lamadrid topped the Boys 13-14 division over Jonah Stokes and Kiari Oberman while Jazzy Morris had no challenge from Tatiana Westin-Web in the Girls 15-17 division, Westin-Web stumbling mid-course in the finals.
Kawai Barrett was excited to be able to advance to states after diving past Michael Gabriel for top honors in the Boys 15-17 division. Joshua Flores rounded out the leaderboard.
Following Machorek in the Girls 13-14 division of the Run-Swim-Run, Coral Vernon and Ming Hsu topped the leaders while Bryson Baligad topped the Boys 13-14 division followed by Kaeo Kruse and Kamu Ferris, almost identical standings for the 200 Meter Swim.
Abirae Stine picked up the pace in the water, outdistancing Tambrina Fairbanks and Sophie Britzman in the Girls 15-17 division before Murphy topped the Boys 15-17 division in the final few yards over Kaikea Elias and China Soria.
With the completion of the Island Finals, the Kaua‘i Junior Lifeguard instructors will assemble the all-island team which will travel to the Big Island to defend its seven-time state title this weekend.
• Dennis Fujimoto, photographer and staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 253) or dfujimoto@ thegardenisland.com.
