Sakamoto wins swim
Advertiser Staff and News Services
Punahou senior Noa Sakamoto, making the most of an East Coast trip, won his first national championship yesterday, capturing the USA Swimming's 5-kilometer open-water swimming championship at Pohic Bay in Lorton, Va.
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Sakamoto's victory came a day after he completed the USA Swimming Long Course Championships at College Park, Md.
Noa Sakamoto won a Virginia ocean race.
Because he won't turn 18 until Jan. 7, Sakamoto won the open and 18-and-under divisions of the open-water swim.
There were 101 swimmers in yesterday's race, he said. "I passed the leader about half-way, and then extended my lead after that," Sakamoto said. "I didn't look back until I went around the last buoy, about 250 meters from the end, and then I could see I was way ahead."
Sakamoto's coach is John Flanagan of Kamehameha Swim Club.ÊFlanagan won the 2001 national 10K open-water championship.
Sakamoto swam in five events in five days at the USA Swimming Long Course Championships, qualifying for next year's U.S. Olympic Trials in the 200- and 400-meter freestyle events.
He said he would stay on the Mainland for a week to visit colleges and would return home Aug. 17.
The Web site www.hhsaa.org contributed the information for this report.
