Rejuvenated Price takes third try at trials
By Ann Miller
Advertiser Staff Writer
A handful of Hawai'i swimmers are among the nearly 700 Americans holding their breath as they prepare to jump into the 2004 U.S. Olympic Team Trials beginning today at Long Beach, Calif.
Stanford University photo
The top two in each event will represent the U.S. in Athens next month, with the exception of the 100- and 200-meter freestyle races, where the fastest six swim on and fill out relay teams.
Iolani alum Hongzhe Sun has a goal of at least making the final eight of the U.S. Olympic Team Trials.
Mililani's Keiko Price retired for two years after her second Olympic trials, but jumped back in the pool because she could see herself among the sweet six in the 100 free, and top two in the 50.
"I felt like I had taken enough time off and I still had a little left in me," Price said from her home in Berkeley. "I wanted to do it for myself now. I just wanted to have fun with it."
She became a Bear for her masters after earning her bachelors as a Bruin. Part of the fun about training at Cal is the elite company she keeps. Price has become close friends with swimming superstar Natalie Coughlin, who holds 17 American and five world records.
The two share swimming insights and many meals.
"We both love to eat," Price admits. "Natalie is somebody I really depend on. Not so much in the water ... just all the little things that happen over the course of a day."
Stanford sophomore Hongzhe Sun also keeps fast company. The 2003 Iolani graduate trains in what is starting to look like the birthplace of American backstroke. A majority of the country's — and possibly world's — best backstrokers have Cardinal ties and have been working toward the trials with Sun.
"The whole nine yards of backstrokers are here and train with me everyday," Sun says. "There has never been another time or place where there have been so many great backstrokers in one place.
"Just being with such great swimmers makes you great automatically. I've learned so many things about backstroke and about myself. There are just so many things you can soak up from great swimmers."
A month ago at the Trials site, Sun swam the fastest 200 of his life in the preliminaries of the Janet Evans Invitational. He finished fourth in the final, but was the second American, and took fifth in the 100.
At 18, Sun's best years should be in the horizon. But no one that knows him, or of him, is counting him out of Athens.
"To make the final eight is a great goal for me," he says. "Then, we'll see what happens in the final heat. I'm definitely not taking myself out of the race for the Olympics, but I'm not putting too much pressure on myself. It's going to be a fun meet."
That feeling is pervasive among the five Hawai'i Olympic swimming hopefuls. Price feels no pressure in her third trial and Sun's star is just starting to rise. Caleb Rowe, Noa Sakamoto and Nicole Mackey are gliding in under everyone's radar.
"It will be a good experience," says Sakamoto, who will become Sun's Cardinal teammate in the fall. "This is probably the biggest meet you can swim in. There will be a lot of fast people.
"The coaches are warning me how it can be really intimidating. People are celebrating on the deck when they make it and crying when they don't. A whole lot of stuff is going on. They say just go in and know that whatever you do, you've given it 100 percent and be happy."
Notes
Four more University of Hawai'i swimmers also have a shot at reaching the Olympics. Senior Nimrod Palma, Israel's national champion in the butterfly, has one last chance at beating that country's time standard. After swimming a series of personal bests in the breaststroke, senior Tudor Ignat hopes to be chosen for the Games by the Romanian Federation. Junior Chad Thomsen (breaststroke) and senior Andrew Coupland (freestyle) are at the Canadian Olympic Trials this week. Thomsen finished 11th — third in the consolation final — yesterday in the 100.
The trials will be at a temporary venue built in the parking lot beside Long Beach Arena. It is one of the fastest and largest outdoor above-ground swimming facilities in the world, with two 50-meter pools, 44 club boxes with enough room to seat a dozen fans each, 12 additional luxury suites and bleachers seating nearly 10,000. The site's inaugural event was last month's Janet Evans Invitational, and 11 meet records were set.
Reach Ann Miller at amiller@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8043.
HAWAI'I'S OLYMPIC SWIMMING HOPEFULS
Nicole Mackey
Mackey
200 and 400 individual medley
Born Nov. 11, 1984
Hometown: Los Alamitos, Calif.
University of Hawai'i sophomore
Helped UH to 26th-place finish at NCAA Championships with two honorable mention All-America performances as a freshman ... finished 13th in 100 backstroke and 16th in 200 IM ... team MVP all four years at Newport Harbor High School ... participated in 2003 World University Games in Seoul ... also qualified for 2000 Olympic Trials.
Caleb Rowe
Rowe
100 and 200 breaststroke
Born May 10, 1983
Hometown: Wailuku
2001 Baldwin High graduate
Rowe, who will be a senior at Cal in the fall, will represent Hawai'i Swimming Club-Maui at trials ... Bears finished seventh at 2004 NCAA Championships, with Rowe taking eighth in 200 breaststroke ... first team Pac-10 All-Academic selection ... five-time state high school champion ... part of Baldwin's 2000 state championship team.
Noa Sakamoto
Sakamoto
200 and 400 freestyle
Born Jan. 7, 1986
Hometown: Honolulu
2004 Punahou School graduate
Will swim for Stanford in fall ... qualified for trials more than a year ago ... Won five state individual titles and one team championship in high school ... U.S. Junior National team in 2002-03 ... 2003 USA Open Water All-America team ... won 2003 National 5-K Open Water Championship ... U.S. Swimming Academic and National Interscholastic Swimming All-American.
Hongzhe Michael Sun
Sun
100 and 200 backstroke
Born Aug. 15, 1985
Hometown: 'Ewa Beach
2003 Iolani School graduate
Named 2004 Pac-10 Newcomer of Year his freshman season at Stanford after helping Cardinal to its 23rd consecutive conference title ... took third in 200 and sixth in 100 at Pac-10 Championships ... Sixth in 200 at NCAA Championships ... competed on 2002 junior national team ... set five state records and won seven individual state championships in high school ... born in Shanghai.
Keiko Price
Price
50 and 100 freestyle
Born July 9, 1978
Hometown: Mililani
1996 Mililani High graduate
Retired for two years after 2000 trials (her second) ... received bachelor's degree in African-American Studies in 2001 from UCLA, where she was an All-American and captain ... worked as graduate assistant/academic advisor at Cal two years while working toward her masters in Athletes and Academic Achievement ... attempting to become first African-American woman to make a U.S. Olympic swim team.
Qualified, but chose to retire from competitive swimming:
Cheyne Bloch
100 and 200 breaststroke
Born Feb. 25, 1982
Hometown: Wailuku
2000 Baldwin High graduate
Times had him seeded 13th in 100 and 19th in 200 at trials ... Finished 15th in 200 at NCAA Championships in senior year, helping University of Hawai'i to 25th-place finish ... earned five All-America honors at UH, including a first-team selection after an eighth-place NCAA finish as a junior ... scored 15 of Hawai'i's 21 points at 2003 NCAA Championships ... set school records in 100 and 200 breaststroke and 200 individual medley ... first team Academic All-American ... part of Baldwin's 2000 state championship team.
