WAIKOLOA — Usually, the speediest route in a race is a straight line.
Maile Lawson chose a slightly longer path at the Cinco de Mayo Splash, but gave herself enough cushion to come away with the victory in the 1-mile open water race at Anaehoomalu Bay on Saturday morning.
The speedy Hawaii Preparatory Academy high school student reached the beach finish line in 20 minutes and 47 seconds.
“I saw the buoy but kind of drifted. The water patrol helped me back to where I needed to be,” Lawson said. “I went sideways at the end, which isn’t the easiest thing to do, but it worked out.”
Close behind Lawson was fellow young gun, Weylin Foo. Foo finished in 21:04 as the second overall and first male finisher.
“I wasn’t expecting it,” Foo said. “This is the first year I have been able to do this well.”
Ku’uleionalani Patterson (third overall, 21:12) and Tori Oshiro (fourth overall (21:19) rounded out the female podium. Jeff Maki (sixth overall, 21:22) and Silas Wiley (seventh overall, 21:49) were the second and third place male swimmers.
The race had 187 finishers, ranging from the 10-14 age division to 70-and-over.
The Splash is the first part of the Big Island’s Triple Crown of open water swimming. The summer-series also includes the Hapuna Roughwater Swim on June 18, and wraps up with the King’s Swim on July 4. After the conclusion of the King’s Swim, awards will be handed out to the top male and female swimmers with the lowest cumulative time between all three events.
Youth leading the pack has been a trend at the open water races on the Big Island. Outside of last year’s triple crown winner Daniel Kniseley — a retired lifeguard who wasn’t present Saturday — the lead pack is usually made up of many standouts from local swim clubs.
Only two finishers in the top 10 were older than 18. As for the winners, Lawson is wrapping up her freshman year at Hawaii Prep, while Foo will enter high school next year.
The open ocean aspect of the race adds obvious twists with conditions not found in a pool. Lawson enjoyed seeing a few other things not found in a pool, turning the race into a personal game of swim bingo.
“I saw a manta ray and an eel. I think those were the only two animals I saw,” Lawson said. “I enjoy it. You get a bit of push coming back in, which is a nice ease up from swimming out. It’s a lot different than swimming in a pool. Plus you might get to see something.”
The race also serves as some good training for Lawson, who will be part of an elite eight-person team from Hawaii that will be heading to the Oceania Championships in late June in Fiji. She was one of only four girls selected in the state. The team will be coached by Steve Borowski, who had a front row seat to watch his pupil finish first at Saturday’s race.
“She’s a character and just a great swimmer,” Borowski said. “She really won handily today.”
