Farrington High swimmers defy the odds to reach states

For the past 20 years, no swimmer from Farrington High School has qualified for the state championships. Part of that time, there was no swim team at Farrington. Most of that time, the Farrington pool has been closed.

This weekend, an unlikely goal was reached by stubborn effort, courageous dreams and a few ticks of a stopwatch: Four Farrington swimmers made it to the state championships.

When Joe Glenn took a job as ninth-grade history teacher at Farrington six years ago, he was ready to sign up to help coach the swim team. He was surprised the school didn’t have one.

"I just thought it was logical that the largest school in Hawaii should have a swim team. Like, why wouldn’t they have a swim team?"

Glenn, who grew up in California and competed in high school and collegiate swimming, approached Farrington’s athletic director, Harold Tanaka, for permission to start up a swim team, pool or no pool.

"He has been very supportive since the first day," Glenn said. "He told me that even if one person wanted to swim he would go forward with the program."

That promise was almost prophetic. That first year, only one swimmer made it through the entire season. Over time, the team grew to a roster of 11.

Farrington used to have a swim team. Farrington used to have a beautiful pool. It’s been shut down since 1997.

It was briefly reopened in 1999, but the filtration system failed again, and it has been abandoned ever since, a scum-filled symbol of tangled bureaucracy and wasted potential. It’s hard to point fingers, though. Pools are expensive to build and expensive to maintain.

After the pool closed, interest in the Farrington swim team waned, and there was no team from 2000 to 2006.

Farrington’s campus is currently going through a $100 million renovation project, beginning with classrooms in the main wing. Tanaka said the area where the long-dead pool languishes will become a new athletic locker room, multi-purpose room for wrestling and classrooms for PE.

Glenn has rented practice time at the pool at Kalihi Valley District Park in years past, but this year moved to Palama pool, about a 15-minute walk from Farrington’s campus.

Working around the pool situation hasn’t been as big a deal as working around the confidence situation. Most of the team had never competed in any sport before, and they’re up against swimmers who have been on year-round teams since they were 10 years old.

"It’s a big leap, believing you even belong there," Glenn said. "It’s not enough to tell the kids they can do it. They have to believe it in their hearts. Swimming is very individual. You have to rely on yourself. You can’t talk to people when you’re swimming. You can’t hear people talking to you. Your vision is very limited in the pool. It teaches kids to focus in. There’s a huge accountability aspect."

Shane Arquines joined the swim team because his cross-country coach said it would be good therapy for his broken leg.

"I am very competitive and I always love to challenge myself," he said. Competing as a swimmer was a huge challenge because, first, Arquines had to learn to swim.

He wasn’t the only one. Most of Farrington’s team had never had swimming lessons before signing up.

Ram Ramos was the only veteran. He was on a swim team in the Philippines before his family moved to Hawaii. Still, he said, his previous experience was nothing like the Farrington team.

"We swam at 5:30 in the morning, went to school at 8, then still showed up to practice in the afternoon," he said of the Farrinton workouts. "And I’m telling you it was more ridiculous than it sounds. We didn’t just get fast because we tried our hardest. We tried harder than our hardest."

Arquines, Ramos, Garrett Higa and Joie Rhon Cascayan, the Farrington Four who went to the state tournament, didn’t qualify outright. Their times in the OIA championships put them in "consideration" for the state tournament. They had to wait a week before finding out whether they would be invited to the big meet, which was held on Maui the past two days. Meanwhile, Glenn made travel arrangements and ran practices in preparation. Last Sunday, they got the call: The relay team qualified for the championships and Ramos qualified to compete in the 100-yard breast stroke.

On Friday at the Kihei Aquatic Center, the four swimmers barely spoke a word all day because they were so nervous and focused.

"There was no Cinderella ending, but it was a good learning experience," Glenn said. The relay team finished 20th out of 21 and Ramos finished 21st out of 21.

Still, Farrington swimmers made it to the championships and competed against the best in Hawaii, something that hasn’t happened in at least 20 years, pool or no pool.