Cody Hamane grew up loving the water in Hilo, but he never entered the Richardson Roughwater Swim before leaving for college.
Cody Hamane grew up loving the water in Hilo, but he never entered the Richardson Roughwater Swim before leaving for college.
It was understandable Sunday morning when the buzz on the beach wasn’t about his first attempt at the race, but rather the return of former champion Madison Hauanio.
When the water got too deep to detect coral along the 1-mile course, Hamane picked a landmark to make sure he was on the straight and narrow, but being in front of Hauanio was as good an indicator as any. He won the 28th edition of the open-ocean swim in 20 minutes, 30 seconds.
“Everyone was like, ‘Oh, Maddie is here,’ she is going to take this,” Hamane said. “She’s such a great athlete. I swim here all the time. I figured if I can stay with her, I’m probably doing all right.”
He was right. Hamane took the lead after the first buoy in what turned into a two-person race. Hauanio was runner-up, approximately eight seconds behind Hamane.
“I was drafting off him the whole time,” Hauanio said. “We were battling it out. We met back together after the last buoy, but he had that extra push.”
After they separated from the pack, they almost had enough time to talk about past BIIF and age-group meets, or how much they enjoy college swimming.
Hamane, a 2014 Hilo High graduate, is preparing for his sophomore season at Occidental College in Southern California.
“I love it,” he said. “Swimming was one of the best parts of my freshman year in college.”
With the exception of a Kona race when he was 12, Hamane didn’t start competing in ocean swims until this summer. He took eighth at Hapuna and was 10th — four spots behind Hauanio — at Kings’ Swim.
“I’m trying to stay in shape over the summer, and this one felt right at home,” Hamane said.
Even more so since he recently switched his training to Richardsons when “Sparky” Kawamoto Swim Stadium was temporarily closed.
Swimmers had to battle the current as well as the rising sun as they made their way back to the beach.
“The surges not only make it harder and pushes you back, it knocks you off course,” Hamane said. “I was zigzagging out there.”
Hauanio, a 2013 Kealakehe graduate, will be a junior at California East Bay.
“I’ve dropped my times every year,” she said. “I swim whatever they need me.”
Competing in the 50-54 division, Jim Mellon posted an impressive 21.31 to place third.
After a one-year absence, the Keaukaha community-oriented event turned into a BIIF reunion at the top.
Hauanio also won in 2010, when she was a second behind then-Hilo High swimmer Kinney Gandall. He was fifth Sunday, one spot behind Waiakea graduate Akemi King.
“It was fun seeing all the kids I used to swim with,” Hauanio said.
Lauren Nickerson led the contingent of finned swimmers, finishing sixth overall. In what wasn’t exactly a fair fight, the 30-year-old Mountain View resident accomplished one of her goals by beating her younger sister, Hilo High’s Teagan Rutkowski, who went finless.
“My first competition in 10 years,” Nickerson said. “Teagen motivated me.
“I swam in college and my stroke feels good without fins. It feels amazing with fins on.”