As versatile and fast as they are, Hilo High’s Kai Hayashida and Kealakehe High’s Michelle Axelson can’t win every race.
It’s just math.
Swimmers must focus on, at most, two individual events at the BIIF championships, which means it’s getting to be decision time for the two top-ranked performers on the island this season.
The choice has been made for Axelson. The sophomore will swim the 50-yard freestyle and 100 backstroke Feb. 19 at Kamehameha. Axelson also carries a BIIF-best time in the 100 butterfly, and she’d be a prime contender in the 100 free as well. She’s won all 20 times she’s entered the pool this year, including relays.
“She’s a blue-collar worker,” Waveriders coach Randy Willis said. “She is the first one in the water at practice, and she grinds.
“She’s relentless in her training and very supportive of her teammates.”
And she’s got talented ones.
Willis is hopeful Kealakehe’s girls can sweep the three relay events and win two on the boys side for a team title sweep.
And why stop there?
The HHSAA championships follow in March at Kamehameha.
“They want to make a statement to the rest of the state that they’re here to race,” Willis said.
He also likes the chances of Jayden Hall, tops in the 200 freestyle, and sprinter Ava Bandt.
Axelson lowered her best times in the 50 (24.45 seconds) and the backstroke (1:02.08) last Saturday at Kamehameha, though the competition picked up its game as well.
Keaau High’s Ailidh Carroll set a new season league low in the 100 free (54.67), and her times in the 50 free, 200 free and butterfly are near the top. Waiakea’s Courtney Kim touched in 1:01.91 in the fly Saturday, all but equaling Axelson’s best time, and her 2:22.06 in winning the 200 individual medley is only quarter second behind the pace-setter, Kealakehe’s Daisy Marquardt. Also for Kealakehe, Sara Vila Leonard recorded a new seasonal standard Saturday in the 500 free (5:56.04), and Waiakea’s La’akea Nakoa-Oness did the same in the breaststroke (1:11.12).
No one in the league has more options than Hayashida. The Vikings’ junior carries a BIIF-best time in every event he’s entered this season – 100 free, 200 free, 500 free, butterfly, backstroke and 200 IM – except for the 50 free, where he trails only teammate Maluhia Kaye.
Understandably, picking two events to focus on at BIIFs will take some time.
“I just talked to him and he didn’t know,” said his coach/father, Jon Hayashida. “He’ll swim this weekend (at Hawaii Prep) and see how he feels.”
It’s the younger Hayashida’s choice.
“He’s the one who is going to tell me what relays he can swim,” Jon Hayashida said. “The good thing is he’ll look at what his teammates are good at and use it to make his choice.”
The only event Kai Hayashida hasn’t entered this season is the breaststroke, but Kaye has Hilo covered in that discipline.
Even if Hilo get four golds out of its top two swimmers, it probably will need to dent Kealakehe’s prowess in the relays – or have another team, such as Hawaii Prep, do it – to claim a team title.
“It’s always going to (depend) on the relays, probably between Hilo, HPA and Kealakehe,” Jon Hayashida said. “For the girls, Kealakehe is really strong.”
For the boys “Kealakehe, I think, has more depth this year,” he said. “It’s going to be really interesting.”