Swim Meet No. 7: Swimmers Gear Up for MIL Championships

KIHEI — Competitors were in high spirits as they took to the Kihei Aquatic Center on Friday evening for the final tune-up day before the Maui Interscholastic League (MIL) swim meet No. 7. With the MIL championships only a week away, swimmers were keen to test their skills in events outside their specialties.

Coaches faced the challenge of strategically placing their swimmers to maximize team points, as each swimmer is limited to participating in four events. They can choose to compete in all three relays and one individual event, or a combination of two individual events and two relays, making it a chess match-like situation.

“I love that part,” said Lindsey Stafford, head coach of Maui Preparatory Academy. “We have a lot of kids that are good at different races. We’ll put them where we think they’re best. I don’t know that yet, I can’t tell you yet.”

Last season, Maui Prep secured both the boys and girls team titles, marking their first MIL swim team titles in school history. This year, close races for the team crowns are anticipated.

Maui Prep’s Noah Caiserman swims the backstroke leg of his winning 200 IM Friday at Kihei Aquatic Center. The Maui News / MATTHEW THAYER photos

The 18 MPA swimmers have been training at The Breakers resort pool in the absence of access to the Lahaina Aquatic Center, which has been closed since the Aug. 8 wildfire.

“We’re very excited, our kids have been doing great,” said Stafford. “Like I told you before we were happy to have our season, and these kids have just been doing better and better each week. … We’re excited, we’re happy and it’s been good, it’s been good for everybody.”

The K. Mark Takai/HHSAA state championships are scheduled to take place at the Kihei Aquatic Center on Feb. 9-10.

Na Pueo seniors Legend Storer and Carter Bozich both swam state qualifying times in the 50-yard freestyle, finishing 1st and 2nd, respectively, on Friday. Storer clocked 22.71 seconds, while Bozich finished in 23.20.

Storer, who already had a state qualifying time in the event, commented, “That was an OK time for now. He just qualified, so that’s cool.”

King Kekaulike’s Xander Hurst heads to a win in the boys 200-yard freestyle on Friday at Kihei Aquatic Center. The Maui News / MATTHEW THAYER photos

Hurst, a King Kekaulike sophomore, emerged victorious in the boys 200 freestyle, finishing with a time of 1:51.82. Eli Hazlet from Kihei Charter came in second with a time of 1:53.06 — both swimmers met the state qualifying time.

Reflecting on his race, Hurst said, “I felt like that was a solid swim — I’m looking forward to MILs. I think that was my first time competing against Eli Hazlet and he’s really good. He was right there the whole time.”

The upcoming MIL championships are expected to feature closely contested team races. “It’s going to be close, it’s going to be exciting to see how that plays out … A lot of it is going to be coaching, what the coaches decide to have their swimmers swim,” added Hurst.

Maui Prep narrowly edged out Maui High 63-60 to secure the MIL girls title last season. The outcome would have changed if there had been a one-place difference in any of the three relays.

Tea Jimenez, a junior for the Sabers, expressed her excitement for another shot at the MIL team crown. She participated solely in the 400 free relay on Friday, helping the Sabers achieve a state qualifying mark of 4:04.

“I’m excited to just race my friends and for our team to do well and improve times,” Jimenez said. With nine years of swimming experience, she is familiar with most of the other competitors in the MIL.

Jimenez emphasized the camaraderie among the swimmers, stating, “It’s fun to race them and then say ‘Good job’ after.” She believes that winning an MIL team title would be a great achievement for her school and hopes to represent her school with pride.

* Robert Collias is at [email protected]