Campbell’s Makoa Alvarez set two meet records during the Oahu Interscholastic Association Swimming and Diving Championships on Saturday at Veterans Memorial Aquatics Center.
Yet, Alvarez got the most satisfaction from his performance in the 400-yard freestyle relay — the final event of the meet — when he pulled out a victory for his team with a fantastic comeback.
Kapolei senior Leilani Herrera also broke two meet records, and they came in back-to-back events.
The Kaiser girls and Roosevelt boys won the team titles.
In the boys 400 freestyle relay, Alvarez was swimming the anchor leg and entered the pool with the Kalani team leading by about half the length of the 25-yard pool. Alvarez slowly narrowed the gap and surged ahead at the very end, touching first in 3:24.32. The Falcons finished second in 3:24.43.
“We were down a lot and I won it, not just for me but for my whole team, so that was more rewarding,” said Alvarez, a senior who plans to compete for the University of Hawaii next season.
The other members of the Sabers 400 freestyle relay team were Raymon Tutewohl, Josiah Ahuna and Samuel Bass.
Alvarez broke meet records in the 100 butterfly (49.05) and the 100 backstroke (49.04).
“It’s time to race,” he said. “It’s part of the season where you have to race fast.”
Herrera established meet records in the 100 backstroke (57.96) and 100 breaststroke (1:04.52). They were events Nos. 19 and 21.
“It’s my senior year, so I told myself, ‘It’s my last chance and I have to suck it up and swim,’ ”?Herrera said. “I’m really happy with the times I went.”
Roosevelt sophomore Jun Yeub Yoon (100 freestyle, 46.96) and the Kaiser girls 200 freestyle relay team (1:42.08) also set meet records. Members of the Cougars relay team were Zoey Fox, Julie Hedden, Hanna Heiss and Lara Yasumi.
“I just practiced hard.?I was really surprised. I didn’t expect to break the record,” said Yoon, who also won the 50 freestyle in 21.44.
Said Kaiser’s Hedden, “I think we did really good. We all tried our hardest as we possibly could because we wanted to break the record. I’m glad we did it.”
Other boys who won two individual events were Kalani sophomore DongJin Hwang (200 freestyle, 1:46.35; 500 freestyle, 4:40.74) and Moanalua junior Christian Nishimura (200 individual medley, 1:56.97; 100 breaststroke, 1:00.02).
“To be honest, I’m not very satisfied with the times today,” Hwang said. “Comparing to how much work I put in the last couple of weeks, it was a bit disappointing.”
His younger brother Dong Hyeon Hwang, a Falcons freshman, placed second in the 500 freestyle in 4:52.10.
“It’s always fun to race your younger brother. It’s always good to see who’s better,” DongJin Hwang said.
Kaiser junior Yasumi (200 freestyle, 1:56.77; 500 freestyle, 5:10.01) and Kalani junior Paris James (50 freestyle, 24.22; 100 butterfly, 57.52) won two girls individual events.
The Kaiser girls finished with 329 points and were followed by Kalani with 165 and Kapolei with 148. The Cougars also won the 200 medley relay (Moon Jung Kim, Yasumi, Heiss and Hedden) in 1:53.81. The Cougars have won the OIA?six years in a row.
“We were really proud of them. They swam really hard yesterday (trials) and today,” said Kaiser coach Asa Tanaka. “The points get doubled in the relays. We have a good medley relay and we figured they would be one of the top relays. What we did was we stacked the free relay.”
The Roosevelt boys finished with 233 points and were followed by Kalani with 188 and Mililani with 176. The Rough Riders also claimed the 200 freestyle relay (Yoon, Alex Croll, Brighton Hayashida, Joseph Ahia) in 1:31.71.
“They all performed really well today,” said Roosevelt coach Susan Nishioka. “We were trying to get as many people into the finals, whether it be the A finals or the B finals. It was truly a team effort.”
The Hawaii Swimming and Diving State Championships will be held Feb. 20-21 at Veterans Memorial Aquatics Center.
OIA Swimming and Diving
Championships
At Veterans Memorial
Aquatics Center
x-meet record
Boys team scores
1. Roosevelt, 233; 2. Kalani, 188; 3. Mililani, 176; 4. Campbell, 166; 5. Kaiser, 139; 6. Castle, 102; 7. Moanalua, 90; 8. Leilehua, 88; 9. Kapolei, 40; 10. Waialua, 31; 11. Pearl City, 14. 11. Aiea, 14; 13. Kahuku, 13; 14. McKinley, 6; 14. Kalaheo, 6; 16. Farrington, 3.
1-meter diving
1. Devin Valdez, Leilehua, 335.20.
200 medley relay
1. Kalani, 1:42.66 (Dong Hyeon Hwang, DongJin Hwang, Shawn Fujii, Chad Sloggett); 2. Campbell, 1:43.45; 3. Roosevelt, 1:44.10.
200 freestyle
1. DongJin Hwang, Kalani, 1:46.35; 2. Jacob Ramirez, Kapolei, 1:52.38; 3. Elijah Tabar, Castle, 1:52.97.
200 IM
1. Christian Nishimura, Moanalua, 1:56.97; 2. Dong Hyeon Hwang, Kalani, 2:02.36; 3. Joseph Ahia, Roosevelt, 2:08.14.
50 freestyle
1. Jun Yeub Yoon, Roosevelt, 21.44; 2. Raymon Tutewohl, Campbell, 22.82; 3. Scott Pak, Moanalua, 23.30.
100 butterfly
1. Makoa Alvarez, Campbell, x-49.05; 2. Shawn Fujii, Kalani, 52.66; 3. Daniel Yuen-Schat, Kaiser, 56.08.
100 freestyle
1. Jun Yeub Yoon, Roosevelt, x-46.96; 2. Jericho Piansay, Mililani, 50.70; 3. Raymon Tutewohl, Campbell, 50.99.
500 freestyle
1. DongJin Hwang, Kalani, 4:40.74; 2. Dong Hyeon Hwang, Kalani, 4:52.10; 3. Jeffrey Collins, Kaiser, 4:58.34.
200 freestyle relay
1. Roosevelt, 1:31.71 (Jun Yeub Yoon, Alex Croll, Brighton Hayashida, Joseph Ahia); 2. Mililani, 1:35.66; 3. Castle, 1:39.46.
100 backstroke
1. Makoa Alvarez, Campbell, x-49.04; 2. Shawn Fujii, Kalani, 57.21; 3. Josiah Ahuna, Campbell, 1:01.21.
100 breaststroke
1. Christian Nishimura, Moanalua, 1:00.02; 2. Jeffrey Collins, Kaiser, 1:03.21; 3. Joseph Ahia, 1:04.22.
400 freestyle relay
1. Campbell, 3:24.32 (Raymon Tutewohl, Josiah Ahuna, Samuel Bass, Makoa Alvarez); 2. Kalani, 3:24.43; 3. Mililani, 3:31.10.
Girls team scores
1. Kaiser, 329; 2. Kalani, 165; 3. Kapolei, 148; 4. Moanalua, 128; 5. Mililani, 123; 6. Kahuku, 117; 7. Roosevelt, 102; 8. Leilehua, 76; 9. Pearl City, 24; 9. Waialua, 24; 11. Castle, 20; 12. Kalaheo, 12; 13. McKinley, 7; 14. Campbell, 5; 15. Kailua, 4.
200 medley relay
1. Kaiser, 1:53.81 (Moon Jung Kim, Lara Yasumi, Hanna Heiss, Julie Hanna); 2. Kapolei, 1:54.40; 3. Moanalua, 1:55.62.
Boys 200 medley relay
1. Kalani, 1:42.66; 2. Campbell, 1:43.45; 3. Roosevelt, 1:44.10.
200 freestyle
1. Lara Yasumi, Kaiser, 1:56.77; 2. Taylor Brooks, Roosevelt, 1:59.39; 3. Amanda Le, Kaiser, 2:01.22.
200 IM
1. Aimee Iwamoto, Moanalua, 2:11.09; 2. Moon Jung Kim, Kaiser, 2:17.49; 3. Kyla Fox, Kaiser, 2:17.85.
50 freestyle
1. Paris James, Kalani, 24.22; 2. Lilli Lindgard, Kahuku, 25.40; 3. Mailani Wendt, Kapolei, 25.46.
100 butterfly
1. Paris James, Kalani, 57.52; 2. Lina Mamatame, Kalani, 59.68; 3. Dana Okuma, Leilehua, 1:02.56.
100 freestyle
1. Mailani Wendt, Kapolei, 55.19; 2. Lilli Lindgard, Kahuku, 55.91; 3. Julie Hedden, Kaiser, 56.33.
500 freestyle
1. Lara Yasumi, Kaiser, 5:10.01; 2. Emily Travis, Mililani, 5:42.17; 3. Emma McRae, Moanalua, 5:57.79.
200 freestyle relay
1. Kaiser, x-1:42.08 (Zoey Fox, Julie Zoey, Hanna Heiss, Lara Yasumi); 2. Kalani, 1:43.21; 3. Miliani, 1:48.96.
100 backstroke
1. Leilani Herrera, Kapolei, x-57.96; 2. Taylor Brooks, Roosevelt, 59.72; 3. Moon Jung Kim, Kaiser, 1:01.83.
100 breaststroke
1. Leilani Herrera, Kapolei, x-1:04.52; 2. Aimee Iwamoto, Moanalua, 1:06.65; 3. Amanda Le, Kaiser, 1:12.18.
400 freestyle relay
1. Kalani, 3:46.20 (Emily Yang, Lina Namatame, Lisa Namatame, Paris James); 2. Kapolei, 3:49.31; 3. Kaiser, 3:49.48.