First and foremost, the Lahainaluna High School girls stamped themselves as solid contenders to the throne that Baldwin has owned for all but two years in MIL swimming history.

The deep Lunas piled up 98 points to win the girls team portion of the meet. Seabury Hall finished second, 61 points back. Kamehameha-Maui (28) was third.

"A lot of the top swimmers didn't swim today, so it is really no indication of what the league is like,'' Lahainaluna coach Tom Popdan said to The Maui News. "Usually the first meet of the year, the level of intensity and enthusiasm is really high, so we definitely had some good swims for the first meet of the year.''

The Lunas certainly caught the eye of Baldwin coach Wade Hondo, whose team was fourth with 19 points.

"It seemed like they had an army out there,'' Hondo said of the Lunas. "There was red in every lane, almost.''

The Lunas started quickly by taking the top two places in the 200-yard medley relay, and the trend continued all day long.

In the first individual event, the 200 freestyle, Lahainaluna sisters Hailey and Mariah Gill finished 1-2. In the next individual event, their little sister Koral Gill led a 1-2 Lunas finish with Kamaehu Alboro in the 200 individual medley.

Koral Gill and Alboro, both freshmen, repeated their 1-2 finish in the 100 butterfly.

Kaili Faust also joined the Lahainaluna victory parade with wins in the 500 freestyle and 100 breaststroke. In 11 girls races, the Lunas won eight times, and six times they took the top two spots.

In championship meets, swimmers are limited to four events, only two of which can be individual. Yesterday's meet had no such limitations.

On the boys side, a couple of things jumped to the forefront.

One was that Lahainaluna senior Jack Pope, the two-time defending state high school champion in both the 200 and 500 freestyles, looks untouchable in whatever event he chooses to swim against MIL competition.

Pope won the 50 freestyle, 100 butterfly and 100 freestyle, all in state-qualifying times, and all of that is with an eye on his final state age-group meet this week.

"I think he's poised to do his best meet ever,'' Popdan said of his highly recruited senior. "I mean, the times he did today are the kind of times that I was looking for to set him up for a great meet at the state championships next weekend.''

Pope has the University of Hawai'i, University of the Pacific, Texas Christian, Denver, Washington, Arizona, Whittier and Redlands on his list of possible colleges.

"We wanted to get in a couple of smaller events that I don't usually get to swim,'' Pope said. "I was feeling good in the water today. I am tapering right now from our peak (workouts) for the state meet, so I am definitely feeling good in the water. I like to swim anything that I can get in.''

He will have that chance in the four-day state age-group meet — he will compete in the 100, 200, 500, 1,000 and 1,650 freestyles, 100 and 200 butterflies and 200 and 400 individual medleys.

In the boys team chase, Seabury Hall won with 53 points, two in front of Baldwin. Kamehameha Maui was third with 44, and Lahainaluna took fourth with 19.

Spartans freshman Ridge Altman won both the 100 backstroke and 100 breaststroke.

"I am a little bit surprised,'' first-year Seabury Hall coach Andy Marsh said. "We never even talked about swimming for the team title. We talked about getting in — a lot them aren't swimming club — so getting in and getting wet to see where we are at, that was our goal today.''

Baldwin's Kevin Kim won the boys 200 and 500 freestyles, and Kamehameha-Maui's Victoria Crozier finished first in the girls 50 and 100 freestyles.