Posted on: Sunday, March 2, 2003

Sun lifts Iolani to boys title; Waiakea wins girls crown

By Dennis Anderson
Advertiser Staff Writer

Duke would have been proud.

The Local Motion boys and girls State Swimming and Diving Championships at the pool named for Duke Kahanamoku delivered everything expected of them yesterday — great efforts, thrilling races and three meet records.

Iolani's Hongzhe Sun, set his third and fourth state meet records yesterday. Jeff Widener • The Honolulu Advertiser

Hongzhe Sun, one of the best high-school swimmers in Hawai'i history, finished his Iolani career with his third and fourth state meet records and his seventh out of eight possible individual state championships.

Iolani's boys and Waiakea's girls both won the team championships for the second year in a row, both flexing more muscle to polish this year's trophies.

Punahou's Noa Sakamoto and Iolani's Mark Eckert Jr. battled from horn to touch in the distance freestyle races in what has become one of the classic rivalries. This time Sakamoto won the 200- and 500-yard freestyles, although he did not break the records Eckert set in winning both races last year.

Thirteen of 18 individual championships were won by underclassmen, including four by freshmen girls and three by sophomores.

Seventeen of the swimming times meet the standard for automatic inclusion on this year's All-American team of the National Interscholastic Swimming Coaches Association.

These were among the highlights of the 46th annual Hawai'i High School Athletic Association championships:

• Sun broke his 200-yard individual medley record — minted only the day before in trials — in 1 minute, 49.17 seconds. He had not swum the IM in a state meet before this year.

Sun, who is headed for Stanford, also won the 100 backstroke for the fourth straight year — about a half-second slower than his meet record set two years ago — and anchored Iolani's 400 freestyle relay team to a meet record of 3:09.71.

"It is my last high school states and I wanted to put the team on my back and take it all out, to see what I've got," Sun said.

Christine Phillips, who won the 200-yard freestyle, is congratulated by Punahou's Alison Wilson. Jeff Widener • The Honolulu Advertiser

• Punahou sophomore Drew Wallace set the other meet record in 1-meter diving. Wallace scored 439.65 points, 4/10ths of a point higher than the standard set 24 years ago by Harold Hanson. Wallace credited his forward 1 1/2 with two twists. "It's on and off, but I got it today," he said.

• Sakamoto outlasted Eckert in both the distance races. "I started to die in the last 25 yards," of the 200, Eckert said. Sakamoto won by 22/100th of a second in that race, but won the 500 by more than two seconds.

Sakamoto, who won three medals for the USA Junior team in the four-nation Australian Youth Olympic Festival at Sydney in January, said, "It's a lot more fun to swim at home, with people you know and in front of people you know."

• As expected, Waiakea girls coach Dan Lyons stacked the relays, and won all three, accounting for 36 of Waiakea's 50 points. Junior Tamarah Binek and seniors Marlene Yafuso and Tiffany Bumatay swam in all three relays, junior Whitney Nekoba in two and senior Cassie Ka'apu-Lyons in one.

Although the Warriors could have played it safe in the meet-ending 400 freestyle relay and won the meet 46-45 with a second place, they went all out, risking possible disqualification, and Binek outreached Alison Wilson for a 16/100ths-of-a-second victory.

"I saw her out of the corner of my eye and touched real fast," Binek said. Then the five Warriors, who scored all their team's points, did "double high fives" for their two championships.

Waiakea beat out Punahou, which also got all its points from five girls, 50-41.

Iolani's boys also won all three relays plus Sun's two first places. The Raiders outscored second-place Punahou 86-60.

NOTES: Double winners in individual events, besides Sun and Sakamoto, were Seabury Hall junior Randall Tom, in the boys 50 freestyle and 100 butterfly; Kalaheo sophomore Christine Phillips, in the girls 200 and 500 freestyle races; and Kapolei freshman Meredith Egloria, in the girls 50 and 100 freestyle. ...Tom scored a personal best of 50.26 in the butterfly although he is recovering from the flu and was sunburned from a community service week spent cleaning fish ponds on Maui. ... Besides Egloria, freshman champions were girls diver Aleia Mondon of Saint Andrew's Priory, and Amanda Hamilton of Kealakehe in the girls 100 backstroke. ... Maui High junior Chelsea Nagata lost the 50 freestyle in a touch-out to Egloria, but came back to win the 100 butterfly in 55.87, an All-America time. ...Perhaps the least-expected champion was Punahou water polo All-American C.J. Smith, who won the boys 100 freestyle in a lifetime best of 47.85. A senior, Smith had never won even an ILH gold medal before. "It is definitely the biggest thing I've done in swimming," he said. ... Kapolei junior Ed Afualo won the boys 100 breaststroke for the third year in a row. ... Another freshman to watch is the runner-up in boys diving, Punahou's Michael Ono, who was 45/100ths of a point short of the hallmark 400 mark.

STATE SWIMMING AND DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS
At Duke Kahanamoku Aquatic Complex
University of Hawai'i

All distances in yards

BOYS

Team standings

1, Iolani 86

2, Punahou 60

3, Seabury Hall 24

4, Kaiser 15

5 (tie), Baldwin, King Kekaulike, Kealakehe 10

8, Kamehameha 7

9, Kapolei 6

10, McKinley 3

11 (tie), Moanalua, Mid-Pacific, Leilehua 2

14 (tie), Hilo, Radford, Kailua 1

50 Freestyle

1, Randall Tom, Seabury Hall 21.25

2, CJ Smith, Punahou 21.51

3, Pat Morrissey, Iolani 21.90

4, Chris Ricketts, Mid-Pacific 22.46

5, Scott Nagata, Hilo 22.64

100 Freestyle

1, CJ Smith, Punahou 47.85

2, Pat Morrissey, Iolani 48.53

3, Damon Jones, Iolani 48.68

4, Zak Noyle, Punahou 49.25

5, Tyler Kimura, Kailua 49.84

200 Freestyle

1, Noa Sakamoto, Punahou 1:39.55

2, Mark Eckert, Iolani 1:39.77

3, Evan Duffin-Barnes, Kaiser 1:43.01 4, Tatsuya Kobayashi, Kaiser 1:48.48

5, Damon Jones, Iolani 1:48.76

500 Freestyle

1, Noa Sakamoto, Punahou 4:31.92

2, Mark Eckert, Iolani 4:34.04

3, Evan Duffin-Barnes, Kaiser 4:40.44

4, Quinton Darling, Moanalua 4:50.23

5, Peter Swanson, Punahou 4:54.59

100 Backstroke

1, Hongzhe Sun, Iolani 50.40

2, Hogan Orikasa, King Kekau. 54.23

3, Jordan Otomo, Baldwin 56.52

4, Dane Wayman, Iolani 56.61

5, Toby Orikasa, King Kekaulike 57.60

100 Breaststroke

1, Ed Afualo, Kapolei 59.97

2, Julian Price, Iolani 1:01.34

3, Davis Kane, Kamehameha 1:02.42

4, Jack Sauve, Leilehua 1:02.92

5, Sean Steele, Punahou 1:03.99

100 Butterfly

1, Randall Tom, Seabury Hall 50.26

2, Jonathan Lau, Iolani 53.12

3, Ernest Cheung, McKinley 54.66

4, Ike Yato, Iolani 55.37

5, Jared Rodriguez, Radford 56.71

200 Individual Medley

1, Hongzhe Sun, Iolani 1:49.17

(meet record, breaks mark of 1:50.35 by Sun in 2003 preliminaries)

2, Jonathan Lau, Iolani 1:58.74

3, Daniel Lim, Iolani 2:02.19

4, Jordan Otomo, Baldwin 2:03.43

5, Hogan Orikasa, King Kekau. 2:04.36

1-meter Diving

1, Drew Wallace, Punahou 439.65

(meet record, breaks mark of 439.25 by Harold Hansen of Kalani, 1979)

2, Michael Ono, Punahou 399.55

3, Douglas Kim, Baldwin 322.70

4, Kalai'i Kealoha, Kam. 290.75

5, Ryan Hailstones, Kaiser 255.40

200 Freestyle Relay

1, Iolani 1:26.29

(Pat Morrissey, Hongzhe Sun, Mark Eckert, Damon Jones)

2, Punahou 1:28.58

(CJ Smith, Geoffrey Long, Noa Sakamoto, Zak Noyle)

3, Seabury Hall 1:31.41

(Tristan Adlawan, Brendon O'Conner, Sterling Thomas, Randall Tom)

4, Kaiser 1:32.59

(Dennis Swart, Yusuke Kobayashi, Tatsuya Kobayashi, Evan Duffin-Barnes)

5, Kamehameha 1:33.41

(Davis Kane, Cameron Grimm, Evan Laeha, Shaun Kauihou)

400 Freestyle Relay

1, Iolani 3:09.71

(Mark Eckert, Damon Jones, Daniel Lim, Hongzhe Sun) (meet record, breaks mark of 3:10.44 by Punahou, 2002)

2, Punahou 3:14.41

(CJ Smith, Zak Noyle, Noa Sakamoto, Geoffrey Long)

3, Seabury Hall 3:23.04

(Tristan Adlawan, Kale Haywood, Sterling Thomas, Randall Tom)

4, Kealakehe 3:24.53

(Puna Moku, Micah Kawamoto, Chandler Nacino, Sean Cooney)

5, Kaiser 3:24.65

(Evan Duffin-Barnes, Tatsuya Kobayashi, Dennis Swart, Yusuke Kobayashi)

200 Medley Relay

1, Iolani 1:40.08

(Dane Wayman, Julian Price, Jonathan Lau, Pat Morrissey)

2, Punahou 1:44.80

(Billy Brady, Sean Steele, Geoffrey Long, Forrest Schwartz)

3, Kealakehe 1:45.27

(Sean Cooney, Puna Moku, Aaron Boranian, Chandler Nacino)

4, King Kekaulike 1:45.82

(Hogan Orikasa, Kahone Speed, Toby Orikasa, Chris Durkan)

5, Baldwin 1:47.29

(Derek Ono, Ryan Hanzawa, Jordan Otomo, Abraham Kailiponi)

GIRLS

Team standings

1, Waiakea 50

2, Punahou 41

3, Kamehameha 22

4, Iolani 21.5

5, Kealakehe 15

6, Kalaheo 13

7, Kapolei 12

8 (tie), Radford, Lahainaluna, Maui 10

11, King Kekaulike 9.5

12, Hawai'i Prep 8

13, St. Andrew's 6

14, (tie) Baldwin, Hilo 4

16 (tie), Leilehua, Kalani 2

50 Freestyle

1, Meredith Egloria, Kapolei 23.61

2, Chelsea Nagata, Maui 23.91

3, Kamaile Crowell, Punahou 24.51

4, Tiffany Bumatay, Waiakea 25.37

5, Vanessa Ng, Iolani 25.45

100 Freestyle

1, Meredith Egloria, Kapolei 51.72

2, Tamarah Binek, Waiakea 53.11

3, Kamaile Crowell, Punahou 54.00

4, Vanessa Ng, Iolani 54.51

5, Maria Krawciw, Kalaheo 55.02

200 Freestyle

1, Christine Phillips, Kalaheo, 1:55.36

2, Laura Pope, Lahainaluna 1:55.57

3, Alison Wilson, Punahou 1:56.51

4, Elizabeth Rose Hanohano-Hong, Kamehameha 1:56.80

5, (tie) Helena Suehiro, King Kek.; Jin-hee Hause, Iolani 1:58.37

500 Freestyle

1, Christine Phillips, Kalaheo 5:07.04

2, Marlene Yafuso, Waiakea 5:12.79

3, Alison Wilson, Punahou 5:16.63

4, Leslie Christian, Leilehua 5:18.52

5, Helena Suehiro, King Kek. 5:19.61

100 Backstroke

1, Amanda Hamilton, Keala. 1:00.13

2, Megan Rose, Kealakehe 1:00.31

3, Lauren Garrigan, Kam. 1:01.47

4, Emalia Suehiro, King Kek. 1:01.79

5, Kimi Ide-Foster, Iolani 1:02.45

100 Breaststroke

1, Karly Kopra, Hawai'i Prep 1:05.63

2, Cassie Ka'apu-Lyons, Waiak. 1:06.49

3, Carly Mitchell, Baldwin 1:06.58

4, Tia Orian, Kamehameha 1:08.11

5, April Woo, Iolani 1:08.58

100 Butterfly

1, Chelsea Nagata, Maui 55.87

2, Stella Brinich, Radford 58.42

3, Marina Morie, Punahou 58.99

4, Mallorie Lim, Iolani 59.59

5, Elizabeth Rose Hanohano-Hong

Kamehameha 59.72

200 Individual Medley

1, Stella Brinich, Radford 2:07.86

2, Emalia Suehiro, King Kek. 2:09.06

3, Amanda Hamilton, Keala. 2:10.94

4, Karly Kopra, Hawai'i Prep 2:11.94

5, Carly Mitchell, Baldwin 2:13.48

1-meter Diving

1, Aleia Mondon, St. Andrew's 379.80

2, Ronnie Oda, Kamehameha 377.35

3, Claire Schiff, Punahou 362.70

4, Lauren Pocherova, Punahou 362.30

5, Ayla Weiss, Punahou 289.05

200 Freestyle Relay

1, Waiakea High School 1:39.46

(Tamarah Binek, Marlene Yafuso, Whitney Nekoba, Tiffany Bumatay)

2, Punahou 1:40.00

(Marina Morie, Kamaile Crowell, Alison Wilson, Natale Rigg)

3, Iolani 1:42.02

(Christi Morrissey, Jin-hee Hause, Mallorie Lim, April Woo)

4, Hilo 1:42.56

(Jan Yamashiro, Beth Yamashiro, Paula Calantoc, Alicia Gerber)

5, Kalani 1:42.91

(Summer Nakasato, Erin Nakamoto, Sayaka Ogura, Ivy Yi)

400 Freestyle Relay

1, Waiakea 3:37.84

(Marlene Yafuso, Whitney Nekoba, Tiffany Bumatay, Tamarah Binek)

2, Punahou 3:38.00

(Marina Morie, Natale Rigg, Kamaile Crowell, Alison Wilson)

3, Lahainaluna 3:44.69

(Laura Pope, Janna Otomo, Malia Kim, Noelle Serrano)

4, Kamehameha 3:45.48

(Elizabeth Rose Hanohano-Hong, Nicole Iglesias, Lauren Garrigan, Leinaala Hall)

5, King Kekaulike 3:49.45

(Helena Suehiro, Katie Engeln, Amber Sullivan-Friezner, Emalia Suehiro)

200 Medley Relay

1, Waiakea 1:50.15

(Tiffany Bumatay, Cassie Ka'apu-Lyons, Marlene Yafuso, Tamarah Binek)

2, Iolani 1:50.50

(Kimi Ide-Foster, April Woo, Mallorie Lim, Vanessa Ng)

3, Kamehameha 1:52.54

(Lauren Garrigan, Tia Orian, Elizabeth Rose Hanohano-Hong, Nicole Iglesias)

4, Punahou 1:54.14

(Shannon Tyau, Avery Cavanah, Marina Morie, Natale Rigg) 1:54.14

5, Kealakehe 1:54.62

(Megan Ros, Sarah Rosenburg, Amanda Hamilton, Taylar Costales)