When she decided nine years of gymnastics was enough, Hailey Barker started a new journey in 2022 that would cover thousands of miles.
Back and forth, from Kona to Hawaii Preparatory Academy, the Kealakehe student went to practice with Ka Makani, where the pool has a diving board.
There is no diving board at Kealakehe or at the Old Kona Airport Complex. Forty miles each way, Barker dutifully made the trek. She learned the basics of 1-meter diving as a freshman, then got her driver’s license and drove herself to practice as a sophomore. It was a dream come true as she placed eighth at the K. Mark Takai/HHSAA Swimming and Diving State Championships.
As a junior, she fell short of the finals, but the thought of stopping everything, the long, lonely drives, the endless repetitions, the big dream never happened. Barker began to train at HPA three days per week instead of two. On Saturday at Duke Kahanamoku Aquatic Complex, Barker became the first diver in Kealakehe history to win a gold medal.
“I’m the first diver for Kealakehe — the very first,” she said.
Barker’s score in the finals was 380.85, ahead of Punahou’s Anna Sophia Dao (376.05) and ‘Iolani’s Tamara Lum (343.45).
“Gymnastics has similar movements. I visualize when I’m on the board. When I didn’t make the finals my junior year, senior year’s my last year. I knew I wanted to try again and do better. I trained more,” Barker said. “I didn’t expect to win.”
One of her training pals, HPA junior Holden Lahey, has a similar background. Lahey moved from Colorado to the Big Island last year. After 13 years of gymnastics, he switched to diving and is now the 1-meter boys state champion. Lahey earned a score of 408, well ahead of ‘Iolani’s Chance Beppu (345.05) and Punahou’s Kaimanapilialoha Spear (343.55).
“I started diving last year. A lot of people are like, ‘I’m done with gymnastics. I’m moving into diving.’ It’s a lot less rigorous on the body,” Lahey said. “I feel good. It was definitely great competition. Our coach is an amazing coach.”
Lindsey Baulekas had never coached female and male diving state champions in the same year.
“Hailey’s very coachable,” she said. “She tries hard and puts effort into every single diving practice. She’s just a fun kid to coach. We had a strong team this year and they support each other. There was a healthy amount of competition between the two, cheering each other on. I’m so proud of these kids.”
Punahou’s legacy as a swimming dynasty continued. With 88.5 points, the Buffanblu girls won their ninth state title in a row. ‘Iolani (54), Kamehameha (30), Hawaii Prep (18) and Mililani (12) followed.
Punahou’s boys also took their team title, ending the three-peat run by ‘Iolani, and giving the program a sweep for the first time since 2020. The Buffanblu had 52 points to edge Hawaii Prep (45), which was followed by ‘Iolani (41) and a tie between Le Jardin and Mililani (17).
“These kids are tough. They’ve been working really hard. They’re a close-knit group,” Punahou coach Jeff Meister said.
Going back to 1990, he has guided the girls to 23 state titles and the boys to 19.
“This is one of our closest groups of the years. Our senior leadership this time has been fantastic. They’ve done a wonderful job of guiding everybody and bringing the younger kids along. Everybody puts in work. They have an amazing level of hard work,” he said.
The girls bested the 400-yard freestyle relay for the second year in a row. The quartet of Deanna Wen, Journie Webster, Haylie Kaichi and Kiani Morikami completed the race in 3 minutes 27.89 seconds. It was the final girls event of the afternoon and the entire Punahou family was on its feet screaming at full blast.
Assistant coach Nohea Lileikis works with Punahou’s long-distance swimmers. She was on the 2018 relay team — with Alexa Phillips, Sydnee Whitty and Chanel Ng — that broke the same event record. That mark stood until 2024. Webster and Wen are holdovers from that crew.
“When they broke it last year, I just (cried) tears of joy. So proud of them. It means a lot for them to get new names on the board,” Lileikis said. “It just means that as a community we’re getting a little bit stronger, a little bit faster every year.”
Wen realizes her name may not be part of the record performance one day.
“I think records are meant to be broken, but it’s also cool to know the people who broke the records before us,” she said.
Meanwhile, Sage Miller of ‘Iolani completed her prep career with three gold medals and one silver. The silver medal came with the 200 medley relay to begin her day. Miller then won the girls 200 IM with a personal-record time (25.38), followed by gold in the 100 butterfly (25.33) and 200 freestyle relay.
“It’s my last meet for my school, so I was just going into it wanting to have fun. I didn’t care about winning. I just want to have fun with all my teammates and have a lot of energy with everyone,” Miller said. “You know, you put all the hard work into it, so whatever happens is meant to happen.”
The 200 freestyle relay was a little extra exciting. She started the race and was followed by sophomore Kendra-Ray Nishikawa, freshman Robyn Shin and sophomore Olivia Wong.
“We got first. That’s really good for our team. We had Robyn in it and she’s only a freshman, Olivia and Kendra. They’re young, too. Our team is young and up-and-coming,” Miller added. “We have a good team culture and help each other to do our best.”
Legacy is a part of ‘Iolani’s culture, as well. Wong edged Maui junior Alika Swanson to capture the gold medal in the 200 freestyle. Her older brother, Evan, was nearby helping the Raiders. One of the most decorated swimmers in Hawaii history, he is a freshman at MIT.
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Girls
Team
1. Punahou 88.5. 2. ‘Iolani 54. 3. Kamehameha 30. 4. Hawaii Preparatory 18. 5. Mililani 12. 6 (tie). Kealakehe 10, Maui High 10. 8. Maui Prep 9 (tie). Kalani 2, Kihei Charter 2, Mid-Pacific Institute 2. 12 (tie). Le Jardin 1, Aiea 1. 14. Roosevelt 0.5.
Individual
1-meter diving: 1. Hailey Barker (Keal) 380.85. 2. Anna Sophia Dao (Pun) 376.05. 3. Tamara Lum (Iol) 343.45.
200 medley relay: 1. Punahou 1:45.05. 2. ‘Iolani 1:46.32. 3. Kamehameha 1:50.52.
200 freestyle: 1. Olivia Wong (Iol) 1:51.12. Aika Swanson (Maui) 1:51.61. 3. Synnove Robinson (Pun) 1:55.38.
200 individual medley: 1. Sage Miller (Iol) 2:02.81. 2. Sacha Salem (MPA) 2:08.77. 3. Kinsey Oka (Keal) 2:09.82.
50 freestyle: 1. Deanna Wen (Pun) 23.33. 2. Alyssa Clark (Pun) 24.12. 3. Kiani Morikami (Pun) 24.63.
100 butterfly: 1. Sage Miller (Iol) 54.13. 2. Aina Sjoblom (Pun) 56.12. 3. Kaileilani Harvey (KS) 58.41.
100 freestyle: 1. Journei Webster (Pun) 50.21. 2. Deanna Wen (Pun) 51.60. 3. Kamakana Kaahaaina (KS) 52.46.
500 freestyle: 1. Aika Swanson (Maui) 5:00.56. 2. Olivia Wong (Iol) 5:00.59. 3 Sacha Salem (MPA) 5:02.91.
200 freestyle relay: 1. ‘Iolani 1:36.85. 2. Punahou 1:37.20. 3. Kamehameha 1:39.64.
100 backstroke: 1. Journei Webster (Pun) 56.17. 2. Aina Sjoblom (Pun) 57.23. 3. Sophia Owen (Iol) 58.91.
100 breaststroke: 1. Chloe Garcia (Mil) 1:06.43. 2. Pemma Norbu (HPA) 1:06.66. 3. Reia Kimi (Pun) 1:07.13.
400 freestyle relay: 1. Punahou 3:27.89. 2. Kamehameha 3:37.87. 3. Hawaii Prep 3:41.24.
Boys
Team
1. Punahou 52. 2. Hawaii Preparatory 45. 3. ‘Iolani 41. 4. Mililani 17. 4. Le Jardin 17. 6. Kamehameha 12. 7 (tie). Kaiser 11, Kalani 11. 9. Hawaii Baptist 10. 10. Kamehameha-Maui 7. 11 (tie). Kauai 4, Lahainaluna 4, Parker 4. 14 (tie). Moanalua 1, Maui High 1, Baldwin High 1, King Kekaulike 1, Kealakehe High School 1.
Individual
1-meter diving: 1. Holden Lahey (HPA) 408.00. 2. Chance Beppu (Iol) 345.05. 3. Kaimanapilialoha Spear (Pun) 343.55.
200 medley relay: 1. Punahou 1:33.94. 2. Hawaii Prep 1:34.71. 3. Mililani 1:37.53.
200 freestyle: 1. Juan Sebastian Bonilla (LeJ) 1:40.25. 2. Quintin Cummings (HBA) 1:40.44. 3. Otoyu Homma (Kaln) 1:41.97.
200 individual medley: 1. Parker Muench (Pun) 1:51.50. 2. Brahman Davis (Kais) 1:53.94. 3. Branson Nakamura (Mil) 1:55.44.
50 freestyle: 1. NoahCaiserman (Iol) 20.35. 2. Beaudin Schad (Park) 20.66. 3. Kaiea Hudgins (HPA) 20.72.
100 butterfly: 1. Quintin Cummings (HBA) 49.19. 2. Kaiea Hudgins (HPA) 50.33. 3. Flexx Faildo (Pun) 51.85.
100 freestyle: 1. Noah Caiserman (Iol) 45.80. 2. Jihoon Sung (iol) 46.60. 3. Kaito James (Pun) 46.44.
500 freestyle: 1. Juan Sebastian Bonilla (LeJ) 4:34.85. 2. Brahman Davis (Kais) 4:39.99. 3. Maximillian Seidel (HPA) 4:46.32.
200 freestyle relay: 1. ‘Iolani 1:24.33. 2. Hawaii Prep 1:25.02. 3. Punahou 1:27.16.
100 backstroke: 1. Parker Muench (Pun) 50.11. 2. Cruz Storer (KSM) 50.35. 3. Branson Nakamura (Mil) 51.18.
100 breaststroke: 1. David Wong (KS) 57.27. 2. Coleson Pouoa (HPA) 57.70. 3. Tim Lorge, (Kais) 58.80.
400 freestyle relay: 1. Punahou 3:07.63. 2. Hawaii Prep 3:11.31. 3. ‘Iolani 3:11.67.
50 freestyle unified: 1. Jaden Nead (Lei) 35.43.
100 freestyle unified: 1. Jaden Nead (Lei) 1:19.14.
