LIHU‘E — When the Swim Kaua‘i Aquatics athletes — Ryder Lin, Griffin Lin and Sean Lottermoser — returned home from Boise, Idaho on Sunday, 9-year-old Griffin was the sole swimmer that pocketed five medals.
“That’s the most medals from any of the Hawaiian Islands,” said Melisa Paterson, an SKA team mom. “Maui had one, and O‘ahu had one. Griffin had four golds and a silver medal.”
Lottermoser competed in the 13-14 age group for the first time at the Western Zone Age Group Championships, and realized those swimmers were “real fast” after competing in the 100, 200, and 50 meter freestyle swims, and the 200 meter backstroke.
Ryder Lin just missed the medal cut by finishing seventh in the 100 meter breaststroke on a swim that stopped the clocks at 1 minute, 20.54 seconds.
Griffin competed in the 10 and Under age group.
“He earned medals during his last year’s swims at Zone, but none were gold,” Paterson said. “His older brother Brandon won the golds. This year, Brandon aged out of Zone, and Griffin came up with the gold.”
Griffin’s silver medal performance came in the 50 meter butterfly, where he touched the wall at 33.30, an improvement of 0.70 over his previous best.
Paterson said the Zone officials were impressed with Griffin’s overall performance, noting that he claimed the highest point total in the 10 Under age group and a high medal count. Griffin’s performance also gave him the honor of earning the most medals of a Team Hawai‘i swimmer.
Based on his performance in Idaho, Griffin is also ranked No. 1 in the country for the 10U age group.
His gold medal performances include the 100 meter butterfly, where he touched the all at 1:14,46, a drop of 3.58 off his previous best time.
Griffin peeled off 2.78 from his previous best time when he touched the wall at 2:47.36 in the 200 meter individual medley, and sliced 1.09 off his previous best swim in the 100 meter breaststroke with a 1:25.19 swim.
In the 50 meter breaststroke, Griffin dropped 0.86 with his gold medal 38.94 performance.
All three swimmers will be in the water at the YMCA pool this weekend when Swim Kaua‘i Aquatics hosts the annual Kaua‘i Classic, which attracts more than 100 swimmers from around the state, and even the mainland during the long Admissions Day weekend.
The Kaua‘i Classics starts at 8 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday. There is no admission to view the competition.
