The last splash was the sweetest.
The celebratory plunge into the pool at East Los Angeles College last Saturday again belonged to the University of Hawaii women’s swimming and diving team after the Rainbow Wahine collected medals and records to capture their second straight Mountain Pacific Sports Federation championship and third in the last four years.
“It’s a very demanding sport and there’s a lot that goes into it just to improve by 1/100th of a second or just one or two points on a dive,” second-year UH coach Dan Schemmel said. “To see their hard work pay off from an individual standpoint and from a team standpoint, I was so happy for them and so proud to be a part of the group.”
| GOLDEN ‘BOWS
Hawaii’s first-place finishers at the MPSF championships last week in Los Angeles:
WOMEN
800 free relay* — Bryndis Hansen, Phoebe Hines, Silvija Djelic, Franziska Weidner
200 free relay — Bryndis Hansen, Kasey Schmidt, Franziska Weidner, Taylor Thorsen
400 medley relay* — Franziska Weidner, Lucia Lassman, Kionna Clayton, Bryndis Hansen
400 free relay — Bryndis Hansen, Taylor Thorsen, Anna Kotonen, Franziska Weidner
500 free* — Phoebe Hines
200 IM* — Franziska Weidner
1 meter diving — Ivy Houser
200 free* — Franziska Weidner
3 meter diving — Ivy Houser
1650 free* — Phoebe Hines
100 free* — Franziska Weidner
Platform diving — Madison Sthamann
MEN
200 IM — Metin Aydin
100 fly — Mateusz Chaba
100 breast — Olli Kokko
100 back — Metin Aydin
200 back — Metin Aydin
200 breast — Olli Kokko
Platform diving — Johan Sandell
*-Meet record
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The Rainbow Wahine continued their MPSF reign by amassing 848 points — 205 ahead of runner-up UC Santa Barbara — over the four-day meet. Along the way, the Wahine collected 12 wins, including four of the five relays, and set meet records in nine events.
The UH men’s team nearly joined in the post-meet celebration after making a run at the program’s first men’s title since winning the Conference USA crown in 2011. The Rainbow Warriors led the men’s standings after two days before defending champion UCSB edged ahead on Friday and held off UH on Saturday. The Warriors won seven events and closed the meet with 670.5 points to UCSB’s 717, a 34.5-point improvement over last year’s third-place finish.
Based on times posted earlier this season, “We were slated to get last,” Schemmel said. “We knew that we were going to be better than that, that we hadn’t shown our cards. But to get it as close as we did was just awesome.”
The performances led to 34 UH swimmers and divers earning 92 All-MPSF awards on Tuesday.
Among the highlights of UH’s week in Los Angeles:
>> The Wahine relay teams won four events — setting MPSF records in two — and finished second in another.
“I think it speaks very highly of the depth and just the message that we want to send out is relays are the truest representation of a team,” Schemmel said.
>> Senior Franziska Weidner won all seven events she entered (200 individual medley, 100 and 200 free and four relays) and added six conference records to her 20 MPSF career golds.
“She’s a superstar and none of that was surprising to us,” Schemmel said of Weidner’s final MPSF performance. “She’s just an incredible athlete and just a fun person to work with and an incredible student. She’s just the total package.”
>> Sophomore Phoebe Hines’ time of 15:54.31 in the 1,650 freestyle was nearly 26 seconds ahead of her closest competitor and chopped more than 16 seconds off the previous MPSF meet record. The Australian’s swim moved her into seventh in the nation in the event.
>> The Wahine divers swept all three events and claimed seven of nine podium finishes. Freshman Ivy Houser won the 1- and 3-meter events and placed second on platform behind UH senior Madison Sthamann who is undefeated on the tower this season. Johan Sandell won the men’s platform, followed by sophomore Lucas Cooperman.
“It’s been a group that’s been preparing very well for meets,” said UH co-diving coach Mike Brown, now in his 18th year. “They were the best prepared on platform of any group I’ve had.”
>> Junior Metin Aydin paced the Warriors with wins in the 200 IM and 100 and 200 backstroke. He also swam on three silver-medal relay teams (200 medley, 200 free, 400 free).
“He’s just kind of a beacon of positivity and he’s been someone who’s really helped us change the mind-set and the culture,” Schemmel said.
>> Sophomore Olli Kokko sat out last season due to a shoulder injury, returned to competition in the fall and contributed wins in the 100 and 200 breaststroke last week.
The UH teams returned to Honolulu on Sunday and those with hopes of qualifying for the NCAA championships in March were back in the pool on Monday. Seven UH divers have a quick turnaround before heading to the NCAA Zone E qualifying meet, which opens March 5 in Flagstaff, Ariz.
“The real measure is to go up against the Pac-12 teams and all the other teams in the west and if they do their thing there, that will be noteworthy,” Brown said. “That’s my focus right now; get to the NCAAs, go to the big dance and see what you can do there.”
