On the third day of the Hawaiian Age Group Short Course Championships, teams can often fall into a little bit of a rut. With the heat a factor all year round on the Big Island, and swimmers getting tired and
On the third day of the Hawaiian Age Group Short Course Championships, teams can often fall into a little bit of a rut. With the heat a factor all year round on the Big Island, and swimmers getting tired and perhaps even a little bored after two days of constant swimming, times have a habit of dropping as the minds start to wander to the beach, or whatever else kids like to do these days for fun.
However, Sunday’s times at the Kona Community Aquatic Center were not only fast, they were record setting fast. Aulea Swim Club’s ‘aukai Lileikis continued his hot pace with two new state records, making his record in the 200-yard freestyle event seem like a warm-up act.
The first record for Lileikis came in the prelims of the boys 17-18, 100-yard freestyle with a time of 43.63. He won the final race by nearly four seconds at 43.68. The second record came in the finals of the 200-yard IM where he topped his record from last year by more than a second with a time of 1:47.33. To show his dominance, he won that race by nearly 10 seconds.
Kamehameha Swim Club’s Grace Monahan also set a new individual state age group record in the girls 11-12, 200-yard butterfly with a time of 2:11.52. She finished nearly eight seconds up on the second place finisher.
Punahou Aquatic’s boys 13-14, 200-yard medley relay team also broke an age group record with a time of 1:42.54. Swimming for the relay team were Jaesun Lee, Sean Duval-Arnold, Ray Sakamoto and Tyler Kawakami. They broke the record set by a team from the same club in 2008 by the slimmest of margins, four one-hundredths of a second.
The Kamehameha girls 13-14, 200-yard medley relay team also broke their age group record with a time of 1:50.97. The previous time of 1:50.97 was set by a team from Kamehameha in 2009. The 2015 team is comprised of Casey Garcia, Jamy Lum, Sophia Harrison and Oliver Stoetzer.
Like brother, like sister
‘aukai Lileikis isn’t the only talented family member competing in the age group state championships this weekend. His sister Nohea Lileikis is also there and she will not let her older brother over-shadow her. Competing in the girls 15-16 year old division, Nohea Lileikis picked up two wins on Sunday to add to her already impressive performance at states.
Nohea Lileikis is a swimmer who can win in the short distances and the long distances. She dominated the 13-18 year old, 1,000-yard freestyle Sunday evening with a time of 10:14.50, which was a little over 12 seconds faster than the next swimmer. She also won the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 2:02.71.
“I really enjoyed racing and it was really fun out there. I just had so much adrenalin,” Nohea Lileikis said. “I like doing the longer distance because I feel like I have more control over it and I can pace myself. Sprinting is about all you have. You give everything.”
Nohea Lileikis wrapped up her day with a first place finish in the 200-yard medley relay (1:51.02) with teammates Katie Woo, Abbey Mitchell and Clancy Doyle.
Sunday standouts
Kona Aquatics’ Maile Lawson continued to impress on Sunday by picking up another win, this time in the girls 13-14 year old, 200-yard IM with a time of 2:09.20. She also finished third on the 200-yard medley relay (1:55.37) along with teammates Bella Sambrana, Ku’ulei Patterson and Loea Andrade.
“It has been a really good meet this year,” Lawson said. “I have seen what I need to change and I know what I need to adjust and it is all a matter of keeping that in my head.”
Hilo Aquatic Club’s Na’inoa Loo and Kamehameha Swim Club’s LeGrand Pound continued to pick up wins on Day 3, but for both swimmers, they felt that they could have done more.
Loo took first place in the boys 11-12 year old, 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:08.68. He also had a second place finish in the 100-yard freestyle (55.09) and a second place finish on the 200-yard medley relay team (1:58.35) with teammates Aipono Valente, Kana’i Eckart and Justin Chow.
“I have been happy with my times but I felt like I could have been faster in my events,” Loo said. “I need to work on my hydration because it has been really hot out here and hopefully I can do better.”
Pounds placed first in the 15-16 year old, 100 yard freestyle with a time of 51.86, adding to her growing win tally overall.
“The meet has been okay but I wanted to drop a lot of time and I haven’t,” Pounds said. “I’m not too happy. My turns really stink apparently and I need to work on my attitude for races because I am not really into longer distances.”
Hilo Aquatic Club’s Kai Hayashida also stood out on Sunday with a pair of wins. He placed first in the boys 10-and-under, 100-yard IM in a time of 1:09.21. He followed that up with a first place time of 1:01.91 in the 100-yard freestyle.
