PAHOA – The name befits a Hollywood Script, and so does the physique.
X Rose is 6 feet, 3 inches and getting taller by the day, with lean muscle, and if the Waikoloa 14-year-old continues on his trajectory he could soon be too big for Hawaii waters.
Rose long ago outgrew his age group club swimming competition.
He collected gold medals in all eight of his events at the Hawaii short course championships last weekend at Pahoa Community Aquatic Center, lowering his personal-best each time he touched first for the Kona Dolphins. This was the first state age group meet since February 2020, when Rose also went 8 for 8, setting three state records.
Best of all to his coach, he stays in his lane, even if his lane is ever-widening and one they hope takes him to all the way Paris.
“When I enter the water, I think about everyone around me and how if they weren’t there, I wouldn’t have done this,” he said. “I need to go faster and perform.”
He entered in his age division because he had to, but if he had competed in boys 15-18, “He still would win,” coach Joyce Follis said. “We just missed a state record, which is a COVID issue and a training issue. Very close.”
Rose’s winning time of 22.07 seconds in the 50-yard freestyle, his signature event, would have won the 15-18 division. His favorite discipline is the breaststroke. En route to winning the 100, he reached 59.60 in the prelims. Blaise Swartwood won the 15-18 final in 59.56. Rose would be a threat to end an 11-year BIIF boys gold drought at the HHSAA championships, set for Friday and Saturday at Kamehameha’s Naeole Pool in Keaau, but he didn’t participate in high school swimming this season.
A ninth-grader, Nathaniel Rose is home-schooled, but he plans to swim for Kealakehe High as a sophomore.
“‘X’ was a nickname my family gave me, and it just went into swimming,” he said. “It just introduced that way into swimming.”
Following in the footsteps of a long line of swimmers in the family, his introduction to the Dolphins came at age 5.
Along with his physical attributes – “We want him as tall as possible, 6-6, 6-7, just like basketball players,” Follis said – Rose carries a second sense as a swimmer.
“He has a natural feel for the water, which is something that can’t be taught,” Follis said.
About the only thing that’s slowed him down lately were pool closures.
“The pool is my favorite, but swimming in the ocean during COVID was a big help, pushing against the currents,” he said.
These days, he practices five days a week at Kona Community Aquatic Center, three days with the Dolphins and two days on his own.
“It’s been a rough time through COVID, but honestly I think it gave me more motivation,” Rose said. “When I got back, I realized I could do more, get myself higher and higher.”
How high does he want to?
All the way. That’s the goal, anyway.
“He’s on track to go to the Olympics trials in the next three years,” Follis said. “We have a plan, and right now he’s been hitting all the goals to qualify for the next Olympic trials.”
For the record, the 2024 Summer Olympics are 874 days away in Paris.
“It’s a lot,” Rose said. “It’s crazy a lot, it’s cool a lot, that I can think about having that chance.”
About the only thing small-time about Rose is his ego.
During the four-day meet in Pahoa, Follis said a 9-year-old came over to congratulate Rose after he won the 100 breaststroke. Follis said Rose stopped what he was doing, offered a fist pump and thanked him.
“I love everything about this kid,” Follis said. “He’s one of the most humble competitors in our state, and he doesn’t just give attention to himself, but he takes time for all the youngsters who come up to him, everybody he races.”
Gold diggers
Three swimmers who struck BIIF gold Feb. 19 also did so at the age group meet: Kona Aquatics’ Nolan Morton and Michelle Axelson, and Hilo Aquatic Club’s Oliliu Wise.
Morton recorded a lifetime-best 22.35 in winning the 50 free, and Axelson went 23.90 for the second consecutive week in her freestyle sprint. Each won double individual gold for Kealakehe a week earlier and will return to Naeole Pool on Friday looking for more at the HHSAA championships. Axelson has the second-best time in the 50 free in Hawaii this year. She took silver at Pahoa in the 100 backstroke behind Andrea Zeebe, the only swimmer who has gone faster than her this season in high school meets in that event.
Wise, a freshman at Kamehameha, won the 13-14 100 breaststroke at Pahoa.
Hawaii age group short course championships
Feb. 24-27 at Pahoa Community Aquatic Center
Listed are top-three finishers from the Big Island
Girls 15-18 800-yard freestyle relay
3, Kona Dolphin (Jayden Hall 16, Diana Garcia 17, Sara Leonard 15, Bella Shurley 16), 8:20.97
Boys 15-18 800 freestyle relay
2, Kona Aquatics ‘A’ (Levi Childers 16, Finn Morton 18, Nolan Morton 17, Aiden Ankrum 17), 7:38.31
Girls 11-12 400 freestyle relay
3, Hilo Aquatic Club ‘A’ (Savannah Domingo 12, Carly Enriquez 11, Kamaehu Visaya 11, Danica Yanagisawa 12), 4:44.33
Boys 11-12 400 freestyle relay
3, Hilo Aquatic Club-HI ‘A’ (Kahiau Halemanu 12, Shane Nguyen 12, Olin Sakamoto 12, Liam Takaba 12), 4:49.56.
Girls 13-14 400 freestyle relay
3, Hilo Aquatic Club-HI ‘A’ (Marisa Oishi 14, Raya Rogers 13, Lily Hubbard 14, Oliliuwelaakawahine Wise 14), 4:07.56.
Girls 15-18 400 freestyle relay
3, Kona Dolphin ‘A’ (Jayden Hall 16, Bella Shurley 16, Sara Leonard 15, Diana Garcia 17), 3:48.27
Boys 15-18 400 freestyle relay
2, Kona Aquatics ‘A’ (Finn Morton 18, Nolan Morton 17, Levi Childers 16, Aiden Ankrum 17), 3:26.00
3, Hilo Aquatic Club ‘A’ (Dakota Domingo 15, Kobe Shimabukuro 16, Logan Bosscher 18, Kai Hayashida 16), 3:31.12.
Girls 11-12 200 breaststroke
2, Kinsey Oka, Kona Aquatics, 2:59.04
Girls 10-under 50 butterfly
3, Ariel Wakana, Hilo Aquatic Club, 35.64
Girls 13-14 100 breaststroke
1, Oliliuwelaakawahine Wise, Hilo Aquatic Club, 1:09.98
Boys 13-14 100 breaststroke
1, X Rose, Kona Dolphins, 1:00.08
Girls 10 & Under 100 backstroke
3, Ariel Wakana, Hilo Aquatic Club, 1:20.30
Boys 13-14 200 freestyle
1, X Rose, Kona Dolphins, 1:48.56
Girls 10-under 50 breaststroke
3, Ehu Kaawa, Kona Dolphins, 40.03
Boys 13-14 100 butterfly
1, X Rose, Kona Dolphins, 54.10
Girls 15-18 100 butterfly
3, Michelle Axelson, Kona Aquatics, 57.82
Boys 15-18 100 butterfly
3, Finn Morton, Kona Aquatics, 54.08
Boys 13-14 200 medley telay
2, Academy Swim Club ‘A’ (Kaiea Hudgins 13, Coleson Pouoa 14, Hulton Chicoine 14, Beaudin Schad 14), 1:47.97
Boys 11-12 400 medley relay
3, Hilo Aquatic Club-HI ‘A’ (Kahiau Halemanu 12, Olin Sakamoto 12, Shane Nguyen 12, Liam Takaba 12), 5:51.58.
Boys 13-14 400 medley relay
3, Academy Swim Club ‘A’ (Kaiea Hudgins 13, Coleson Pouoa 14, Hulton Chicoine 14, Beaudin Schad 14), 4:05.99
Boys 15-18 400 medley relay
2, Kona Aquatics ‘A’ (Nolan Morton 17, Cameron Cornforth 17, Finn Morton 18, Levi Childers 16), 3:51.54
3, Hilo Aquatic Club-HI ‘A’ (Kai Hayashida 16, Dakota Domingo 15, Logan Bosscher 18, Kobe Shimabukuro 16), 3:57.26
Boys 15-18 1,000 freestyle
3, Kai Hayashida, Hilo Aquatic Club, 9:54.70
Girls 11-12 50 Yard Backstroke
3, Mady Coronas-Holeso, Academy Swim Club, 32.25
Girls 15-18 200 Yard Backstroke
3, Bella Shurley, Kona Dolphins, 2:14.55
Boys 15-18 200 Yard Backstroke
3, Nolan Morton, Kona Dolphins, 2:01.07
Boys 13-14 100 freestyle
1, X Rose, Kona Dolphins, 48.70
Girls 15-18 100 freestyle
3, Michelle Axelson, Kona Aquatics, 52.89
Boys 15-18 100 freestyle
3, Dakota Domingo, Hilo Aquatic Club, 49.33
Boys 13-14 200 individual medley
1, X Rose, Kona Dolphins, 2:03.50
Girls 15-18 200 medley relay
2, Kona Aquatics Club ‘A’ (Michelle Axelson 15, So Myong Jeong 16, Daisy Marquardt 17, Jada Keen 15), 1:51.53
Boys 15-18 200 medley relay
2, Kona Aquatics Club-HI ‘A’ (Aiden Ankrum 17, Nolan Morton 17, Finn Morton 18, Levi Childers 16), 1:44.78
3, Hilo Aquatic Club ‘A’ (Kai
