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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Sunday, February 29, 2004

STATE SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS
Iolani sweeps boys, girls state swimming

 •  State swimming championship statistics

By Christie Wilson
Neighbor Island Editor

MARK ECKERT JR.

NOA SAKAMOTO

RANDALL TOM

CHELSEA NAGATA

MEREDITH EGLORIA
WAILUKU, Maui — Iolani scored a three-peat for the boys crown and captured its first girls title in six years at yesterday's Hawai'i High School Athletic Association/Local Motion championships.

The event, held at Sakamoto Pool, was consolidated into a single day when stormy weather forced officials to cancel Friday's preliminary heats. That meant swimmers were given only one chance in each event, with the medalists determined by time, not their placing in a final heat.

Iolani's Mark Eckert Jr., who turned in the day's only record-breaking performance, said the one-day format helped push his performance. He blazed to an 8.4-second victory over second-place finisher Andrew Lester of Moanalua in the 200-yard individual medley, and clocked 49.79 in the 100-yard backstroke event, besting the previous meet record of 49.95 set in 2001 by former teammate Hongzhe Sun, who now attends Stanford.

"The mindset that I only had to swim one race got me excited, and the fact that it was my last states," said Eckert, a senior who plans to attend California. "I had wanted to break the record. I've been trying for awhile to break 50 (seconds)."

Eckert holds three individual state high school records and shares in three relay records.

The All-American was also a member of Iolani's winning 200 freestyle relay that beat Punahou, which stayed close in the point total to its ILH rival throughout the overcast and breezy day.

The Buffanblu benefited from Noa Sakamoto's repeat gold medal performances in the 200- and 500-yard freestyle events. Sakamoto, a senior who is headed to Stanford, also was a member of Punahou's winning 200-yard medley relay.

Iolani was leading by only four points heading into the final race, the 400 freestyle relay, and needed to beat Punahou to secure the title. The Raiders led comfortably from start to finish, while Kamehameha placed second and Punahou was third.

Seabury Hall's Randall Tom, another All-American swimmer along with Eckert and Sakamoto, easily won the 100 butterfly and 50 freestyle, but missed his goal of breaking both meet records. Tom said getting only one shot at each event made him more nervous, and he even shaved his body hair to gain speed for only the second time in his swimming career.

"I tried to shave down, but I missed some spots," he said, glancing down at his legs.

Kapolei's Ed Afualo capped his high school swimming career with his fourth consecutive gold in the 100-yard breaststroke.

"It's over and I'm just proud of what I've accomplished and proud to be a part of swimming," said Afualo, who said he felt extra pressure from the consolidated meet format. "It made me determined because I knew I had only one shot. Things can go wrong and you can slip at the start. I needed to have a perfect swim," he said.

Gerald Bolson of Kamehameha was the only competitor to win gold while swimming in a heat of slower qualifiers. The junior took the 100 freestyle event in 47.85, a personal best that was two seconds faster than his qualifying time. He also won three other medals.

All-American swimmer Chelsea Nagata of Maui High narrowly missed setting new marks in two events. She set a personal best and came within .03 of besting a 25-year-old record by Punahou's Kathy Shipman in the 100-yard butterfly. Nagata was the only swimmer in the event to break the one-minute mark, finishing in 55:24.

Nagata, who is headed to UC Irvine, also won the 100-yard backstroke event, her 58:08 finish just off the 1983 record of 57.97 set by Steph Lister of Punahou.

Meredith Egloria, a Kapolei sophomore, won the 50- and 100-yard freestyle for the second straight year.

Kalaheo freshman and All-American Brittany Beauchan's victory in the 100 breaststroke helped her five-member squad finish second behind Iolani in the team standings, the school's best showing in the state meet. Punahou was third.

The Iolani girls did not have any individual winners but won all three relays.

It was Iolani's third girls title. The Raiders won previously in 1998 and 1996.

The victory bodes well for the Raider girls, since half the 12-member team are freshmen, Iolani boys and girls coach Brian Lee said.

• • •

At Sakamoto Pool
Wailuku, Maui
All distances in yards
BOYS
Team standings
1, Iolani 64
2, Punahou 54
3, Kamehameha-O'ahu 32
4, Seabury Hall 22
5, Kaiser 18
6, Moanalua 10
7, Kapolei 9
8, King Kekaulike 6
9t, Mililani 4
9t, McKinley 4
9t, Mid-Pacific 4
9t, Leilehua 4
50 Freestyle
1, Randall Tom, Seabury Hall 21.03
2, Chris Ricketts, Mid-Pacific 21.94
3, Ed Afualo, Kapolei 22.44
4, Scott Nagata, Hilo 22.69
5, Daniel Coakley, Kohala 22.74
100 Freestyle
1, Gerald Bolson, Kamehameha 47.85
2, Kyle Ota, Iolani 48.49
3, Geoffrey Long, Punahou 48.97
4, Hogan Orikasa, King Kekaulike 49.04
5, Daniel Lim, Iolani 49.35
200 Freestyle
1, Noa Sakamoto, Punahou 1:41.08
2, Evan Duffin-Barnes, Kaiser 1:44.45
3, Kyle Ota, Iolani 1:47.20
4, Peter Swanson, Punahou 1:51.69
5, Jason Fung, Waldorf Academy 1:52.88
500 Freestyle
1, Noa Sakamoto, Punahou 4:40.20
2, Andrew Lester, Moanalua 4:40.91
3, Evan Duffin-Barnes, Kaiser 4:47.66
4, Quinton Darling, Moanalua 4:54.00
5, Dustin Fukuda, Mililani 4:54.02
100 Backstroke
1, Mark Eckert, Iolani 49.79
2, Hogan Orikasa, King Kekaulike 53.54
3, Kai Yamashiro, Iolani 53.98
4, Douglas Dudley, Pearl City 57.07
5, Jordan Otomo, Baldwin 57.58
100 Breaststroke
1, Ed Afualo, Kapolei 58.91
2, Jack Sauve, Leilehua 1:01.86
3, Gerald Bolson, Kamehameha 1:02.38
4, Davis Kane, Kamehameha 1:03.06
5, Ikaika Aki, Punahou 1:03.95
100 Butterfly
1, Randall Tom, Seabury Hall 49.43
2, Ernest Cheung, McKinley 54.15
3, Ike Yato, Iolani 54.32
4, Jonathan Lau, Iolani 54.48
5, Bryan Avery, Mililani 54.72
200 Individual Medley
1, Mark Eckert, Iolani 1:50.13
2, Andrew Lester, Moanalua 1:58.57
3, Kai Yamashiro, Iolani 2:01.67
4, Bryan Avery, Mililani 2:02.91
5, Jonathan Lau, Iolani 2:05.86
200 Freestyle Relay
1, Iolani 1:27.16
(Mark Eckert, Kyle Ota, Kai Yamashiro, Daniel Lim)
2, Punahou 1:28.89
(Noa Sakamoto, Geoffrey Long, Zak Noyle, Billy Brady)
3, Kamehameha 1:28.98
(Illia Reyes, Davis Kane, Gerald Bolson, Andrew Kinimaka)
4, Seabury Hall 1:30.19
(Tristan Adlawan, Kevin Brown, Brandon O'Connor, Randall Tom)
5, Kaiser 1:30.74
(Evan Duffin-Barnes, Dennis Swart, Tatsuya Kobayashi, Yusuke Kobayashi)
400 Freestyle Relay
1, Iolani 3:15.38
(Kyle Ota, Kai Yamashiro, Ike Yato, Daniel Lim)
2, Kamehameha 3:18.11
(Ilia Reyes, Austin Kino, Davis Kane, Gerald Bolson)
3, Punahou 3:18.94
(Zak Noyle, Geoffrey Long, Billy Brady, Peter Swanson)
4, Kaiser 3:21.00
(Evan Duffin-Barnes, Tatsuya Kobayashi, Dennis Swart, Yusuke Kobayashi)
5, Kealakehe 3:31.15
(Kawai Smith, Tyson Caitano, Aaron Boranian, Micah Kawamoto)
200 Medley Relay
1,Punahou 1:38.00
(Noa Sakamoto, Ikaika Aki, Geoffrey Long, Zak Noyle)
2, Iolani 1:40.28
(Mark Eckert, Nate Anderson, Jonathan Lau, Daniel Lim)
3, Seabury Hall 1:41.66
(Tristan Adlawan, Kevin Brown, Randall Tom, BRendon O’Connor)
4, Kamehameha 1:45.53
(Andrew Kinimaka, Davis Kane, Bronson Libed, Ilia Reyes)
5, Kaiser 1:48.14
(Yusuke Kobayashi, Dennis Swart, Tatsuya Kobayashi, Brian Walker)

GIRLS
Team standings
1, Iolani 60
2, Kalaheo 36
3, Punahou 22
4, Waiakea 17
5, Kealakehe 14
6, Maui 13
7, Kapolei 12
8, Kamehameha-O'ahu 11
9, St. Anthony 10
10, King Kekaulike 9
50 Freestyle
1, Meredith Egloria, Kapolei 24.00
2, April Woo, Iolani 24.86
3, Kamaile Crowell, Punahou 24.91
4, Tamarah Binek, Waiakea 25.03
5, Kellie Young, Iolani 25.48
100 Freestyle
1, Meredith Egloria, Kapolei 52.96
2, Tamarah Binek, Waiakea 54.63
3, Aja Kusao, Iolani 55.83
4, Maria Krawciw, Kalaheo 56.04
5, Brittney Yim, Maryknoll 56.35
200 Freestyle
1, Laura Pope, Lahainaluna 1:57.26
2, Nikoya Collier, St. Anthony 1:57.47
3, Whitney Nekoba, Waiakea 1:59.05
4, Elizabeth Rose Hanohano-Hong, Kamehameha 2:00.47
5, Sara Ajifu, Iolani 2:01.40
500 Freestyle
1, Nikoya Collier, St. Anthony 5:14.76
2, Christine Phillips, Kalaheo 5:14.97
3, Emalia Suehiro, King Kekaulike 5:15.08
4, Whitney Nekoba, Waiakea 5:18.70
5, Megan Rose, Kealakehe 5:23:89
100 Backstroke
1, Chelsea Nagata, Maui 58.08
2, Megan Rose, Kealakehe 1:00.70
3, Kimi Ide-Foster, Iolani 1:00.89
4, Nikki Yamamoto, Iolani 1:02.59
5, Lauren Pang, Iolani 1:02.99
100 Breaststroke
1, Brittany Beauchan, Kalaheo 1:06.27
2, Carly Mitchell, Baldwin 1:05.51
3, Ivy Yi, Kalani 1:08.67
4, Alicia Gerber, Hilo 1:08.90
5, Blaire Foster, Kealakehe 1:09.81
100 Butterfly
1, Chelsea Nagata, Maui 55.24
2, Mallorie Lim, Iolani 1:00.34
3, Elizabeth Hanohano-Hong, Kamehameha 1:01.17
4, Summer Nakasato, Kalani 1:01.90
5, Sara Ajifu, Iolani 1:01.94
200 Individual Medley
1, Emalia Suehiro, King Kekaulike 2:11.87
2, Carly Mitchell, Baldwin 2:12.36
3, Aja Kusao, Iolani 2:17.19
4, Rachael Meiser, Kealakehe 2:17.22
5, Mallorie Lim, Iolani 2:17.25
200 Freestyle Relay
1, Iolani 1:40.86
(April Woo, Sara Ajifu, Kellie Young, Aja Kusao)
2, Kalaheo 1:41.79
(Brittany Beauchan, Christine Phillips, Jillian Luis, Maria Krawciw)
3, Hilo 1:42.26
(Alicia Gerber, Beth Yamashiro, Paula Calantoc, Jan Yamashiro)
4, Punahou 1:42.47
(Kamaile Crowell, Kat Vinson, Madison Williams, Jenna Sheely)
5, Waiakea 1:43.46
(Natasha Ludwig, Whitney Nekoba, Tara Binek, Tamarah Binek)
400 Freestyle Relay
1, Iolani 3:43.93
(Aja Kusao, Sara Ajifu, Nikki Yamamoto, Mallorie Lim)
2, Kalaheo 3:45.46
(Jillian Luis, Brittany Beauchan, Maria Krawciw, Christine Phillips)
3, Punahou 3:46.96
(Kat Vinson, Jenna Sheely, Madison Williams, Kamaile Crowell)
4, Waiakea 3:48.18
(Natasha Ludwig, Whitney Nekoba, Tara Binek, Tamarah Binek)
5, Lahainaluna 3:49.08
(Noelle Serrano, Ciara Ganter, Janna Otomo, Laura Pope)
200 Medley Relay
1, Iolani 1:53.52
(Kimi Ide-Foster, Kellie Young, Mallorie Lim, April Woo)
2, Kalaheo 1:52.70
(Jillian Luis, Brittany Beauchan, Maria Krawciw, Christine Phillips)
3, Kealakehe 1:55.09
(Taryn Bean, Blaire Foster, Amanda Hamilton, Rachael Meisner)
4, Punahou 1:55.20
(Kamaile Crowell, Avery Cavanah, Jenna Sheely, Kat Vinson)
5, Kamehameha 1:55.71
(Lauren Garrigan, Tia Orian, Keala O’Sullivan, Elizabeth Hanohano-Hon)
Note: Diving was held on Friday. Results were in Saturday’s editions of The Advertiser.

Correction: A previous version of this story had the wrong scores.