Boise State’s Cahill, Choi come ‘home’

The only other time Boise State’s women’s swim team competed in Hawaii, Jennifer Cahill and Shanelle Choi were seniors in high school.

Four years later, the two have served as hosts for the Broncos’ return trip to the islands that ends today.

The team heads back to Boise after spending eight days in Hawaii to train for the upcoming season while also competing in a dual meet involving Southern California, the No. 1 team in the country.

The meet was held on Friday at the Duke Kahanamoku Aquatics Complex and also included Wisconsin and host Hawaii.

USC senior Christel Simms, a 2009 Punahou alumna, played a big role in the No. 1-ranked Trojans’ wins over both Hawaii and Boise State.

She swam the first leg of the 200-meter medley relay the Trojans won by just over a second over Wisconsin, and Choi, a 2009 Pearl City graduate, swam the final leg for one of the Broncos’ relay teams that came in sixth.

Simms took second to her USC teammate in the 50 freestyle by two-tenths of a second with a time of 23.60, while Choi finished eighth at 24.73 seconds.

Simms also swam the anchor leg in the 400 freestyle relay, helping USC finish second to Wisconsin.

Choi also finished sixth in the 100 butterfly in 58.33 seconds, while Cahill, a 2009 Baldwin alumna, placed seventh in the 1,000 freestyle with a time of 10:31.24 and 10th in the 500 freestyle in 5:11.16.

The Broncos finished 2-1 in the meet, losing only to USC which won 17 of the 18 individual events.

“The meet went well,” Cahill said. “Personally it wasn’t what I wanted, but as a team we did real good. We got two wins over Wisconsin and Hawaii, and USC got us pretty good, but they are the No. 1 team in the nation.”

Both Cahill and Choi have enjoyed lots of success at BSU, which has won a conference championship each of their first three years.

The Broncos were Western Athletic Conference champs in 2010 and 2011 before moving to the Mountain West, which they won last year.

“We can be the first class to win four championships, so to go 4-for-4 to get those rings, that would be the icing on the cake,” Cahill said.

Cahill is coming off a memorable junior season in which she set three school records.

She owns the fastest times in Boise State history in the 500 free (4:49.81), 1,000 free (9.58.86) and 1,650 free (16:27.80).

All three marks were set last February at the MWC championships in Oklahoma City, where she earned the silver medal and an NCAA “B” cut in the 1,650 free and was ranked No. 53 in the country.

That event is considered Cahill’s best chance at winning an individual title at the conference championships this year, and she’s already swam within 13 seconds of her school record at a meet last month despite it being so early in the season.

“I want to finish up in the NCAAs this year in that mile,” said Cahill, who came within seven seconds of qualifying for the NCAA championships in 2012.

Choi already has a personal best in the 200 freestyle this year at 1:53.41 and has been within a second of her best times in the 50 and 100 free.

She competed in the “C” final of three races at the 2012 MWC championships and swam on five different winning relay teams during the season.

“I know us seniors have been doing a little countdown, and I definitely want to finish the season hard,” Choi said. “Just go all out is what we’re trying to do.”