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The Hawaii Swimming Club (HSC) gathered its members from the islands of Hawaii, Oahu, Maui, and Molokai and managed to score enough points to capture the championship of the 1999 Hawaiian Swimming Short Course Championships. Held at the Duke Kahanamoku pool on the University of Hawaii-Manoa campus, the four-day meet brought the best swimmers in the state together.
Led by Head Coach Reid Yamamoto and associate coaches Rodney Hayashi, Carla Spidell, Keith Arakaki, Dexter Lee, Daishu Komogata, and Lloyd Yonemura, who head up the various branches of the club, HSC managed to outscore the Punahou Aquatics team by a mere 18 points. Undoubtedly the closest competition in many, many years, the team leadership changed every day of the competition. HSC grabbed a narrow first day lead but the Aulea Swim Club came back to take the overall lead after the second day of swimming. Punahou had moved into second place and HSC dropped into third.
After the third day scores were tallied, HSC had managed to climb back on top followed closely by Punahou and Aulea. By this time, the three teams had outdistanced the rest of the 21-team field but nothing could compare to what transpired on the final day.
After the morning trials and timed finals, HSC and Punahou were in a dead tie for the overall lead while Aulea was still in striking distance. The afternoon session of finals and relays never gave anyone a clue as to what would be the final outcome. Each team came up with magnificent performances in the individual finals and the final 10 relays and the results of each event gave no clear indication of the final results.
As the results were read, all attention was focused on the top three teams. When Aulea was announced as the third place team, both HSC and Punahou coaches, swimmers, parents, and supporters held their breaths. HSC erupted in cheers when Punahou was announced as the second place team and great sportsmanship prevailed as both teams proudly accepted the team trophies. Everyone was surprised at how close the final team scores were because an 18-point margin in a four-day swim meet is indicative of a very, very close competition.
Five Molokai swimmers were entered in the competition and the boys contributed the most to the team scores. Ilia Reyes swam to eight personal bests and made the finals in seven of his events. He had a pair of second place finishes in the 50 Y and 200 Y Free events, a third in the 100 Y Free, a pair of fourth places in the 50 Y Breaststroke and 100 Y Individual Medley, a sixth in the 100 Y Breaststroke, and a seventh in the 200 Y Individual Medley. His individual total led the Molokai scorers. He also swam the 200 Y Free Relay with Chase Bloch, Ian Gerber, and Brad Tamashiro and the foursome placed second in the event.
Lenn Yonemura, in what may be his final short course championships, made the finals in all six of his events. He placed second in the 1,000 Y Free, third in the 500 Y Free, fourth in the 200 Y Backstroke, fifth in both the 100 Y and 200 Y Breaststroke, and eighth in the 200 Y Free. HSC was short one swimmer in Lenn's age group so they were unable to field any relay teams. All relays score double the points of individual events.
Mahina Reyes was the busiest Molokai swimmer with eight individual and three relay events. Mahina made the finals in the 50 Y Breaststroke where she placed seventh and all three of her relay teams finished in the top eight places to earn valuable team points. That included a second place finish in the 400 Y Free Relay where Mahina was teamed with Nikoya Collier, Emalia Suehiro, and Ailani Miller. Most encouraging was Mahina's attainment of personal best times in all eight of her events.
Leo Reyes swam on three relay teams that added to the HSC team total. Leo swam in two individual events, the 100 Y and 200 Y Breaststroke, and she finished in eighth place in the 200 Y Breaststroke finals. Her time in that event was also a personal best for her.
Loni Yonemura rounded out the Molokai swimmers. She swam in one event and attained a personal best in the morning trials of the 200 Y Freestyle event. HSC was unable to field any relay teams in Loni's age group sacrificing more valuable team points as the competition continued.
The age group swimmers are taking a short rest before beginning the long course season which starts in March. The long course championships are slated for Maui in June and Maui will also host the 2001 Western Zone Championships which will involve several thousand swimmers.
The high school season is already in progress with both Lenn and Loni headed to Kauai for the Kauai Interscholastic Federation Invitational meet. Both the age group and high school teams are coached by Lloyd Yonemura and David Kalani. Coach Yonemura continues to pull double duty at the invitational and championship meets where he serves as both coach and the meet announcer.
Congratulations to Coach Yamamoto, Hawaii Swim Club, and our Molokai swimmers!