Twenty five teams from Hawaii and various parts of the nation gathered in the oldest invitational meet of its kind, the 52nd Annual Keo Nakama Invitational Swim Meet. The meet ran from June 30 to July 2 and was held at the Palolo Valley District Pool.
The Pearl Harbor Swim Club took the lead in team scoring and held that lead throughout the first four sessions of the meet. They held a lead of over 100 points headed into fifth and final session on Sunday afternoon but lost the services of their head coach, Lee Kingsbury, who was assisting his wife in the birth of their child that day.
The Hawaii Swimming Club (HSC) made a furious comeback in those final events spurred by the leadership of Head Coach Reid Yamamoto and assistants Carla Spidell, Rodney Hayashi, Dexter Lee, Daishu Komogata, Chrissy Kelley, and Susie Baker. Coach Yamamoto's strategies on the final day also paid off with great dividends. The result was an amazing comeback by HSC as they totaled 904.50 points to the 882.50 of Pearl Harbor.
Ilia Reyes led four HSC-Molokai swimmers in the meet with nine top eight finishes in his ten events. Ilia also garnered gold medals in the 200 M Medley and Free Relays along with teammates Ian Gerber and Matthew and Kevin Arakaki. Ilia was the third highest individual scorer in his age group.
Mahina Reyes also made heavy contributions to the team point total by scoring in eight of her ten events and narrowly missing in her other two events as she placed 9th in both of them. She also picked up a gold medal for helping to win the 200 M Medley Relay with teammates Ailani Miller, Alicia Gerber, and Sandi Moody.
Leo Reyes' biggest contributions came in her four relay events. In age group swimming point totals are doubled for the relay events and Leo's team of Mikiala Miller, Emalia Suehiro, and Nikoya Collier capture a gold and three silvers throughout the three-day meet.
Loni Yonemura's best individual finish was a fourth in the 200 M Butterfly but, like Leo, she also made big contributions in the relay events. She joined Nicole Okuna, Helena Suehiro, and Kim Kaya for and Open division win in the 200 M Free, edging Manoa Aquatics by .13 seconds. Manoa gained a bit of revenge as they defeated the HSC tandem in just under three seconds in the 400 M Medley Relay. Manoa was paced by Sara Pires, a former all-state swimmer from Kamehameha Schools currently swimming on the Women's Team at the University of Northern Colorado.
Nicole, Helena, and Loni were joined by Merceda Rivera and they competed in the 15-16 division for the final two relays, winning the 400 M Medley Relay and placing second to Manoa's 15-16 team in the 400 M Free Relay.
After this meet, the swimmers will enjoy a short break and focus on conditioning and technique as well as assisting in the beginners program. All swimmers continue to train throughout the summer with preparations for the short course season beginning in August.
Congratulations, Swimmers!