Leave it to state champion swimmer Blaise Swartwood, who has a 4.4 grade-point average, to acknowledge an astounding reality.
“If I didn’t swim, it would be higher, probably,” the Mililani senior said. “I would have much more time.”
Six days a week, Swartwood and younger sister Belise get in the car, normally after school, and trek from Central Oahu to Hawaii Kai. That’s where the miles are done in the pool as Kamehameha Swim Club gets to work.
It is the way and has been so since Blaise was 9 and Belise, also a state champion, was 7, training consistently. Becoming aqua man and aqua woman. Older sister Brea, who also swam for Mililani, is now a sophomore in college, swimming for Caltech.
Blaise and Belise have won a combined seven gold medals this winter for Mililani. There may be many more to come at the K. Mark Takai/HHSAA Swimming and Diving Championships this weekend at Kamehameha-Hawaii in Keaau.
“I believe both are natural individual medley swimmers. Belise is also focusing on distance freestyle and is currently ranked second in the state in the 500 and Blaise is ranked third in 200 IM,” Mililani coach Grant Bramer said. “Both are multifaceted in their abilities and easily could have potentially swam any event. We haven’t had an athlete of their caliber since Aaron Saito won the state championship in 2020 in the 100 butterfly and 100 backstroke.”
As a sophomore in 2020, Blaise swam in two relays as the Mililani boys placed third in the 200 medley and 11th in the 400 free. He finished 13th in the 100 breaststroke
Brea was on the girls relay team that was 12th in the 400 freestyle. Belise was an eighth grader that year, and now she is helping to carry the torch. Now a sophomore, she qualified for six events during the high school season, but state championship rules allow a swimmer to compete in only two individual races.
Belise Swartwood won OIA gold in the 200 IM (2 minutes, 11.73 seconds), 500 freestyle (5:10.82) and 400 freestyle relay. She also qualified for states in the 100 fly, 100 freestyle and 100 breaststroke.
Blaise Swartwood won OIA gold this season in the 200 IM breast, 100 breast, 200 IM relay and 400 freestyle relay.
He plans to race at states in the 100 breast (1:01.22, sixth-best) and 200 IM (1:58.94, fourth).
Both will also get their fill of relay competition. Belise is in the 200 medley and 400 freestyle relay, and Blaise is in the 200 medley and 400 freestyle relays.
“I’ve practiced a lot and learned to be a leader for my teammates,” Blaise said.
Mililani will send 18 swimmers in all to states. The program had 52 on its regular-season roster en route to OIA team championships in the boys and girls divisions. It won its first girls team title since 2009 and first boys crown since ’13.
“What I’ve seen in the water so far is very calm and calculating athletes who are very aware of their swims,” Bramer said. “I’m looking forward to seeing how they swim this weekend in the state environment, which is traditionally a charged environment. Unfortunately, the Big Island still doesn’t allow spectators, but our swimmers will cheer each other on.”
The Swartwoods’ devotion to swimming excellence is almost as deep as their passion for classical music. Their mother, Weni, played flute in high school marching band, but also plays piano. So do Brea and Blaise.
Music has been a form of release, a quest to perfect another skill.
“I started playing (piano) when I was like 8, I don’t remember. It’s always been classical. My favorite is probably the Chopin ‘Ballade No. 1’,” Blaise said.
The youngest, Belise, is a sophomore who carved out her own niche: violin. Around the same time she took up swimming with her siblings, she began on the woodwind instrument.
“I was 4. My mom asked me what instrument I wanted to play. She didn’t even know I knew what a violin is,” Belise said. “Since I was 11, it’s usually two bigger concerts a year. Swimming and concerts don’t usually conflict.”
Belise enjoys learning new pieces.
“Right now I’m playing the Tchaikovsky ‘Violin Concerto.’ It’s 30 minutes, three movements,” she said.
She and Blaise continue to take weekly lessons despite the load of studying and swimming. When life is a bit less busy, Belise has concerts with the Hawaii Youth Symphony Orchestra.
Right now, it is go time in the water. The brother and sister flew to Hilo for club state championships over the weekend, then flew back home on Sunday.
“We did pretty well. I did all right, had my best times in a few events: 1,000 free, 100 free, 200 butterfly,” Belise said.
This upcoming weekend, they fly back to the same facility, only this time with their Mililani teammates.
Belise, who also enjoys drawing, has a 4.2 GPA.
“I ask him for advice,” said Belise, who is a sophomore.
Knowledge leads to better decisions, which is crucial after a long club meet off island. Blaise swam seven events last weekend, winning the 200 IM, 100 breast and 200 fly. He would love to do more than two events at the high school state meet.
“I think they should change it to three or four (events), but the whole point is that it’s supposed to be shorter than club,” he said.
They left Texas years ago, but neither Blaise nor Belise remembers a whole lot.
“I remember mainly the weather was a lot nicer here. We lived somewhere around Galveston. It’s dry, close to the ocean,” Blaise said.
Growing up there, swimming began as a safety skill.
“My mom just wanted us to be water safe. We had lessons at the YMCA and it grew into more,” Belise said. “When we moved, I remember it was sad to leave one of my friends, Jacqui Del Valle.”
Blaise recalls being competitive in nature at a young age.
“You always try and make your own times get better. I’d say before we moved, I’ve always enjoyed seeing what I could try to do,” he said.
Which is such an internal thing for the siblings. Scholars and classical musicians on the outside. Driven inside.
“Belise knows how to act when she needs to be competitive. She’s always been very competitive. I guess it comes from our club (Kamehameha Swim). Training with like-minded people keeps us motivated well,” Blaise said.
The daily workouts with their club are 2 1/2 hours long.
“We’re pretty intense, that’s the best way I could put it,” he said.
Music has been a form of release, a quest to perfect another skill.
Blaise is all about challenging himself, and that modus operandi works well.
“I took nine AP classes and got 5s in all of them,” he said of the exam scores. “I have five more this year.”
As a sophomore, he aced three AP classes: Biology, World History and Computer Science Principles.
As a junior, he knocked it out of the park in six AP courses: Calculus BC, Physics I, Environmental Science, Language and Composition, US History and Computer Science A.
“I took Chemistry for fun,” he added. “I wasn’t interested in AP Chemistry.”
SWARTWOOD FAVORITES
Belise Swartwood
>> Mililani swimmer
>> Sophomore
>> Favorite music artists: James Arthur, Ed Sheeran, Dean Lewis
>> Favorite teacher: Mr. Hanagami — “He teaches Computer Science. He is very funny and I can kind of banter with him.”
>> GPA: 4.2. “This year, I think it’s 4.4, but my brother and sister have higher GPAs. We were actually home-schooled by my mom when we were younger, so she made it very clear, the standards. She was a good teacher.”
>> Funniest teammate: Katrina King. “She’s just very energetic. She’ll just start screaming a song that’s playing during a meet when we’re just waiting in the bleachers. I’ve sung with her sometimes.”
>> Smartest teammate: “My brother (Blaise).”
>> New life skill: Drawing. “I’m not very good at it, but I like it.” Are you Picasso (spontaneous) or Cezanne (perfectionist)? “Definitely Picasso. I tend to be a little bit of a perfectionist, but I have learned that sometimes I just need to move on.”
>> Bucket list: Europe
Blaise Swartwood
>> Mililani swimmer
>> Senior
>> Favorite shows/movies: “Arcane,” “Crash Landing on You”
>> Favorite food/snack: Ramen — “Any type is good.”
>> Favorite music artists: Paramore, Twice, Foo Fighters
>> Favorite class: AP Physics C: Mechanics — “It’s interesting. It’s engaging.”
>> GPA: 4.4
>> New life skill: Driving
>> Bucket list: Visiting Japan and Korea. “They have good food. I just want to taste and see. I’d go out to the countryside.”
>> Hidden talent: Playing piano
