MPI’s plan turns grand

Lena Hayakawa passed up on personal records and in return got the biggest prize.

Hayakawa, a versatile and talented swimmer on a small Mid-Pacific team, let her teammates choose what events they wanted to compete in this season. After they picked, she took whatever was left so the Owls could have an entrant in those events. In return, the Owls would be able to compete in as many events as possible and hopefully win another state title.

The plan finally came to fruition.

Hayakawa won two golds and a silver to help the Owls take home the girls team title at Saturday’s OC16/HHSAA State Swimming and Diving championships at Central Oahu Regional Park. Mid-Pacific, which had just four entrants competing in individual events, won five and finished second in four others to accumulate 62 points. Punahou, which has won 48 state titles since the meet began in 1958, was second with 57.

“That was definitely our top goal,” said Hayakawa. “We only had three swimmers and one diver as finalists. I just want to thank the coaches, our supporters and teammates for making this happen. 

“It feels great because Punahou was a really big competitor to us. Even though we had few members, we had bigger hearts than any team here and we knew that. We were so supportive to each other and knew what had to be done.”

The Owls sealed the team title by winning the 400-yard medley relay, the meet’s final event. Sophomore Maia Petrides anchored the relay team in a tight race that Mid-Pacific won in 3 minutes, 31.19 seconds. Punahou was second in 3:34.16. Petrides wanted to win for a senior class that won a state title in 2013 and made it a mission to win another.

“I really wanted to do it for the seniors on my team,” said Petrides, who won on the relay team with Hayakawa, Rebecca Walton and Inie Lui.

Hayakawa won the 200 individual medley and was second in the 500 free, none of them her main events. Her strongest are the butterfly and breaststroke.

“My 500 and 200 IM are totally not my best events at all,” Hayakawa said. “It’s my senior year, I should be swimming my best events, but for me I didn’t really care about that. It was all about points.”

Coach Kaz Yoshiwara said Hayakawa put the team first.

“She’s got a big heart and she understands she’s very much a utility kind of swimmer from the 50 up to the 500,” Yoshiwara said. “She put the team first and I couldn’t have asked for a better athlete.”

Walton not only repeated as the 500 free champion, but broke the record in a time of 4:56.29. Kaiser’s Ashley Swart set the previous record of 4:57.27 in 2002. Walton also won the 100 fly. 

“It was really important because we don’t have that many swimmers compared to other schools,” Walton said of the 1-2 finish in the 500. “It was important for all of us to place as high as we possibly can.”

Walton said she’s been chasing the record for years. Yoshiwara said he wasn’t surprised that Walton achieved that feat.

“That was something we looked at the beginning of the year and it was doable,” he said.

MPI senior Anna Archibald won the 1-meter dive with a score of 425.70. The seniors were determined to finish their careers as state champions and focused on that from the beginning of the season.

“Two years ago when they won, they kind of had that expectation of that’s where they wanted to be and that’s where they set the bar,” Yoshiwara said. “Going into this season and talking with the seniors, that was their goal. They realized what they were capable of. That was the mark.”

The Buffanblu won the 200 medley relay and the 200 free relay, and Maddie Balish won the 100 breaststroke. Kamehameha finished third in the team standings with 24 points.