LIHUE — Yasmine Ware and Kate Machorek have been swimming together for 12 years. Ware and Machorek, both juniors at Kauai High School, will be leading the Kauai Interscholastic Federation contingent when they participate in the OC16 Hawaii High School
LIHUE — Yasmine Ware and Kate Machorek have been swimming together for 12 years.
Ware and Machorek, both juniors at Kauai High School, will be leading the Kauai Interscholastic Federation contingent when they participate in the OC16 Hawaii High School Athletic Association Swimming & Diving state championships Friday and Saturday at the Kamehameha Schools-Big Island facility.
“We know a lot of the swimmers who will be there through Sparky’s and other swim meets, so it should be fun,” said Ware, who along with Machorek, swim with the Swim Kauai Aquatics program during the high school offseason. “It should be real competitive because the swimmers are getting faster. The freshmen are getting faster.”
KHS swim coach Monique Chow said she feels the girls will do well at the state competition which starts Friday with the preliminaries and ends Saturday with the finals.
“They were part of the Girls 400 yard freestyle relay team which pushed us into the championship by just one point over Kapaa,” Chow said. “They are definitely strong and with the support of the team, and even supporters, they should be empowered.”
Chow said with factors such as illness and other reasons, she will be taking 10 swimmers from the KIF championship boys and girls teams to the state competition.
“We even have two members of the team who didn’t qualify, but are going just to support the KIF swimmers,” Chow said.
Machorek opened the championship meet on a strong note, breaking a KIF championship record with her swim of 1 minute, 54.50 second, ahead of Grace Stokes of Kapaa who touched the wall at 2:19.75 for second place. The first place swim bettered the KIF champs record by more than 1 second.
She continued the record-breaking pace with a first finish in the Girls 500 yard freestyle, touching at 5:07.01, breaking the KIF champs record by more than 4 seconds.
“Realistically, I would love to win the 500 free,” Machorek said, after learning she was seeded No. 2 in the event at the state meet. “Ideally, I would be happy if I could win two events.”
Chow said she feels Machorek should do well in both the 200 and 500 yard freestyle swims, being bettered by less than 1 second by the top seeds, Lena Hayakawa of the Mid-Pacific Institute, in the 200 freestyle, and Rebecca Walton, also of Mid-Pacific, in the 500 freestyle.
Ware also broke two KIF champs records during her performance at the KIF championships, setting a new standard of 23.63 in the Girls 50 yard freestyle, and 56.97 in the Girls 100 yard backstroke.
“My goal is the 50 yard free,” Ware said. “I want to win that event.”
Ware is the top seed in the Girls 50 freestyle, her seeded swim being .37 second off the state record of 23.26 set in 1994 by Keiko Price of Mililani High School. Joining Ware in the Girls 50 yard freestyle, Maluhia Stark-Kinimaka of Kapaa earned the No. 7 seed at 25.56.
Ware also captures the top seed in the Girls 100 backstroke, nearly 1 second ahead of Punahou freshman Lia Foster. Her seeded time is also within 1 second of the state record of 55.73 set in 2009 by Christel Simms of Punahou.
“Those freshmen are getting faster,” Ware said. “The coaches get together and talk and as a result, the competition keeps getting stronger.”
Mokihana Aquatics coach Orlando Anaya, who helped coach Ware and Machorek during the pair’s early days of swimming, noted that Ware is only one of two people who have more than one No. 1 seeding entering the state meet. The only other swimmer with a pair of No. 1 seedings is Jonah Hu, a senior at Baldwin High School on Maui who is rated tops in the boys 200 individual medley and tops in the boys 100 yard breaststroke.
• Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 245-0453 or dfujimoto@ thegardenisland.com.
Girls 200 Yard Medley Relay: Kapaa High School – Victoria Hinkel (fr), Abi Stine (sr), Grace Stokes (fr), Maluhia Stark-Kinimaka (sr)
Boys 200 Yard Medley Relay: Kauai High School – Tyler Elwin (sr), Kainoa Matsumoto (sr), Bradley Fujiuchi (sr), Hikari Oberman (sr)
Girls 200 Yard Freestyle: Kate Machorek (jr – Kau)
Boys 200 Yard Freestyle: Riley Young (soph – Kau)
Girls 200 Yard Individual Medley: Ava Wagner (fr – Kau)
Boys 200 Yard Individual Medley: Bryson Baligad (jr – Kap)
Girls 50 Yard Freestyle: Yasmine Ware (jr – Kau)
Boys 50 Yard Freestyle: Hikari Oberman (jr – Kau)
Girls 100 Yard Butterfly: Kayla Ishida (jr – Wai)
Boys 100 Yard Butterfly: Bryson Baligad (jr – Kap)
Girls 100 Yard Freestyle: Pualei Pratt (fr – IS)
Boys 100 Yard Freestyle: James Papa (jr – IS)
Girls 500 Yard Freestyle: Kate Machorek (jr – Kau)
Boys 500 Yard Freestyle: Quinn Hannah-White (sr – IS)
Girls 200 Yard Freestyle Relay: Kauai High School – Kate Machorek (jr), Tambrina Fairbanks (sr), Ava Wagner (fr), Yasmine Ware (jr)
Boys 200 Yard Freestyle Relay: Kapaa High School – Bryson Baligad (jr), Micah Nobriga-Ferris (jr), Don Maddock (sr), Nyle Rostchild (jr)
Girls 100 Yard Backstroke: Yasmine Ware (jr – Kau)
Boys 100 Yard Backstroke: Riley Young (soph – Kau)
Girls 100 Yard Breaststroke: Tambrina Fairbanks (sr – Kau)
Boys 100 Yard Breaststroke: Alex Hashimoto (sr – Wai)
Girls 400 Yard Freestyle Relay: Kauai High School – Kate Machorek (jr), Tambrina Fairbanks (sr), Ava Wagner (fr), Yasmine Ware (jr)
Boys 400 Yard Freestyle Relay: Kauai High School – Hikari Oberman (jr), Andrew Beeksma (soph), Asa Hendrickson (fr), Riley Young (soph)
