Relays help propel Punahou to fifth straight sweep at state swimming championships

RODNEY S. YAP / SPECIAL TO THE STAR-ADVERTISER
University sophomore Grace Monahan won two gold medals at the state swimming and diving championships on Saturday at the Kihei Aquatics Center on Maui. She won the girls 200-yard individu al medley and the 100-yard butterfly.

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RODNEY S. YAP / SPECIAL TO THE STAR-ADVERTISER

University sophomore Grace Monahan won two gold medals at the state swimming and diving championships on Saturday at the Kihei Aquatics Center on Maui. She won the girls 200-yard individu al medley and the 100-yard butterfly.

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For the fifth year in a row, Punahou swept the team titles in the K. Mark Takai/HHSAA Swimming State Championships on Saturday on Maui.

The Buffanblu didn’t have an individual event winner on either side but swept the boys and girls 200 medley relay and 400 freestyle relay events.

Punahou’s girls’ 60 points doubled King Kekaulike and the boys’ 58 points beat Kamehameha, which finished second with 32 points.

“I’m just so proud. It’s such a team effort and our kids work really, really hard,” Punahou coach Jeff Meister said. “We sure had a lot of people step in and step up and swim well.”

Sophomore Andrea Zeebe on the girls side and junior boys Noah Peters and James Lyon were part of both winning relay teams for the Buffanblu.

King Kekaulike won its first 200 freestyle relay state title as sophomores Afton Page and Li’a Vanderpoel and seniors Cecilia Buckingham and Aniston Eyre held off Kamehameha by 0.52 seconds.

Kamehameha won the 200 freestyle relay event on the boys side, with seniors Noa Copp, Dane Kaulukou-Chang and Devin Alejado and sophomore Brandon Nash winning in 1:27.73, beating Punahou.

University sophomore Grace Monahan is halfway to winning four state titles in two individual events. She held off Zeebe to win the 200 individual medley in a time of 2:01.58 and was victorious in the 100 butterfly with a time of 54.49 seconds.

Le Jardin junior Alana Barthel was the only other repeat champion, winning the 100 backstroke in 55.24, nearly two seconds ahead of Lexi Anderson.

Radford senior Jake Palmieri became the first Ram to win the 200 freestyle event since 1973 when he held off Punahou’s Peters to win in 1:39.35.

Punahou senior Emma Ng Pack closed her high school career with a third straight 1-meter diving title, winning comfortably with 437.80 points over Hilo senior Sydney Patterson.

‘Iolani’s Culley Jones became the third different Raider in as many years to win the boys 1-meter diving championship.