HAWAIIAN

LONG COURSE AGE GROUP

SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS

The 1998 long course age group swimming season concluded with Punahou

Aquatics running away with the overall team title. The championship meet

was hosted by the Maui Age Group Swimming Association (MAGSA) and held at

the Coach Soichi Sakamoto Pool in Wailuku. The Aulea Swim Club was the

runner-up and the Hawaii Swimming Club placed third.

The meet featured many of the premier age group swimmers in Hawaii and its

conclusion also signaled the beginning of a new era in the scheduling of

age group swimming in Hawaii. The two seasons that make up the age group

programs will now shift for a variety of reasons and the new schedule will

look like this.

The short course season will begin in September and conclude in December

with the state championships slated for some time during the Christmas

Holidays. The swimmers will take January and February off while high

school swimmers are in season and the high school state championships will

be held at the end of February. The age group swimmers return for the

long course season which will kick into gear in March. The long course

championships are targeted for mid-June. The swimmers will be off during

July and August.

With the new schedule comes an accelerated training schedule for the

Molokai Swim Team. There has been an overwhelming response and over 20

new swimmers have been working out five days a week in the learn-to-swim

program. Several of the swimmers have registered with United States

Swimming (USS) and are eligible to compete in the MAGSA meet to be hosted

by the Molokai Swim Team on August 29.

The new competitors, Ilia Reyes and Pili Keala, have been putting in

extra time on weekends to prepare for the meet. In October, all of the

swimmers need to be registered with USS in order to continue their

training. The $35.00 registration fee entitles each swimmer to receive

publications from US Swimming and provides them with insurance coverages.

None of the fees are used for local purposes and other than the

once-a-year registration fee, there are no other coaching fees or dues.

The Molokai meet is scheduled to start at 10:30 AM at the Cooke Pool in

Kaunakakai. The public is invited to attend the meet and get a first hand

look at the first USS-sanctioned meet ever to be held on Molokai.

Officials will be coming from Maui to judge the meet and the County of

Maui will ship over an electrical timing system to be used to record the

times. These times will become part of each swimmer's records for the

short course season that begins next month.

The long course championships brought out the best in the Molokai

competitors attached to the Hawaii Swimming Club (HSC). As the season

conluded, one swimmer can lay claim to a new county record, two swimmers

were involved in new state records, and one swimmer became the first age

group swimming champion from Molokai for an individual event.

Leoho`onani Reyes capped off the regular season with a county

record-breaking performance as she teamed with Mikiala Miller, Nikoya

Collier, and Holley Fernandez, all of HSC-Kahului, to smash the 200 Meter

Medley Relay time set by the Lahaina Swim Club in April, 1997. The new

record of 2:25.98 chopped nearly two seconds off of Lahaina's mark of

2:27.76. Leo swam the breaststroke leg of the relay and all four swimmers

are expected to compete in the Molokai meet.

Mahinameli Reyes opened the championships by joining Ailani Miller, Alicia

Gerber, and Eva Rochlen in breaking their own state record in the 200 M

Freestyle Relay. The foursome broke the record in May of this year at the

Sakamoto Invitational and set another standard of 2:12.94 in the first

event of the four-day championships. Gerber hails from HSC-Hilo, Miller

from HSC-Kahului, and Rochlen from HSC-Oahu. The same swimmers also won

the 200 M Medley Relay.

Lenn Yonemura followed Mahina's performance a few events later. He teamed

with Cheyne Bloch, Reece Kaya, and Caleb Rowe, all of HSC-Kahului, in the

800 M Freestyle Relay to surpass the 8:35.19 time set by Manoa Aquatics in

1989 and establish a new record of 8:24.05. It was the first of four

relays the quartet would win throughout the championships as they also

captured the 400 M Medley, 200 M Medley, and 400 M Freestyle events and

placed second in the 200 M Freestyle Relay.

Mahina scored team points (finished in the top eight places) in six of her

eight individual events. In addition to the team points picked up in

winning both of her relay events, Mahina placed fourth in the 50 M and 100

M Breaststroke, sixth in the 50 M Backstroke and 100 M Butterfly, and

seventh in the 50 M Butterfly and 100 M Backstroke events. She also swam

the 50 M Free (9th) and 100 M Freestyle events.

Leo joined Jodi Kalawe and Marlene Yafuso of HSC-Hilo and Mikiala Miller

of HSC-Kahului in four relays. They won the 200 M Medley Relay, placed

second in the 200 M Freestyle and 400 M Medley relays, and took fourth in

the 400 M Freestyle Relay. Leo placed fifth in the 50 M Breaststroke and

was just out-touched at the end of the 100 M Breaststroke to place second

in that event. The 100 M Breaststroke event saw Leo make up some ground

down the homestretch to pull even at the finish where only hundredths of a

second was the difference between her and first place.

Leo also swam in the 50 M and 100 M Freestyle and 50 M Backstroke and

Butterfly events. Her most encouraging performances came in the distance

events in her age group where she lopped off a bunch of time in the 200 M

Freestyle and came up with a strong, steady performance in the 400 M

Freestyle.

In the 400 M Free, Leo kept a steady pace after an opening sprint to stay

with the swimmers in her heat. She fell behind in the middle lengths but

kept a steady pace to make up ground as the event progressed. She ground

out the final 100 meters to pass two swimmers on the way to the finish

line.

By far, Lenn swam to his best overall meet to cap off a struggling season.

He scored in all eight of his individual events in addition to helping win

four of his five relays. In the process, Lenn became the first Molokai

swimmer to become an age group champion in an individual event when he won

the 1,500 M Freestyle on opening day and followed that with a win the 800

M Freestyle the following day. Both events featured head-to-head battles

in the earlier stages but Lenn slowly pulled away in the middle portion

and managed to hold off the competition in the latter stages of the

events.

Lenn also placed fifth in the 100 M Breaststroke, fourth in the 400 M

Freestyle, sixth in the 200 M Breaststroke, seventh in the 200 M

Backstroke, and eighth in both the 200 M Freestyle and 400 M Individual

Medley events.

Loni Yonemura was the fourth Molokai swimmer to compete in the

championships. Loni competed in the 200 M, 400 M, and 800 M Freestyle

events. Her best finish was 11th in the 800 M event.

All four of the swimmers had tremendous meets and performed

extraordinarily well when considering the interuption of training time

when Cooke Pool was undergoing renovations and improvements. Resorting to

dry-land training and jogging to stay in shape, the group managed to put

in some intensive time in the pool in the weeks prior to the meet.

All of the swimmers are assisting in the learn-to-swim program as well as

veterans of the high school swim team. Practices continue daily beginning

at 4:00 PM.