The end of the BIIF swimming season did not include a medal haul for Pahoa High, but there were other perks for swimming coach Dorothy Staskawicz.
She got a letter this week from one of her swimmers sending love and thanking Staskawicz for supporting her.
“That’s what makes it worth it for me,” Staskawicz said.
More reward started Thursday and will run through Sunday. Sandwiched in between the BIIF finals and the HHSAA finals, the championship swimming theme continued in Puna, but this time in Pahoa, which is hosting the Hawaii age group short course championships, a crown jewel accomplishment for the area, Staskawicz said.
“This community has been through so much, with eruptions and all that, to have an event like this, people are so happy,” she said, adding that local businesses are stepping to the plate to cater an even that will include clubs from Oahu, Maui, Kauai. All six Big Islands clubs are competing: Hilo Aquatic Club, Warrior Aquatic Club, Academy Swim Club, Kona Aquatics, Kona Dolphins and Staskawicz’s Big Blue Swimming.
The biannual age group meet hasn’t been held since the onset of the pandemic and returns to the Big Island for the first time since Kona Community Aquatic Center hosted in 2017.
Pahoa Community Aquatic Center, Staskawicz said, is the only county-run pool that is currently competition compliant.
“It’s been a lot of effort from the whole community and the pride in the community,” Staskawicz said. “I really want to celebrate what everyone has done.”
On the scoreboard, Kamehameha Swim Club is a good bet to dominate – the Oahu juggernaut is bringing 90 competitors.
However, there will be an “X factor.”
X Rose of Kona Dolphins, a ninth-grader who is home-schooled in West Hawaii and didn’t participate during the high school season, dominated at the last state meet, held in February 2020 on Oahu, winning all eight of his events and breaking three state records.
BIIF record-breakers Kai Hayashida of Hilo High and Michelle Axelson of Kealakehe will compete as well. Each took home four gold medals last Saturday at Naeole Pool in Keaau. Competing for Hilo Aquatic Club, Hayashida will use the age group meet as an opportunity to compete in the 1,000-yard freestyle, an event not offered at the high school level.
While it would be understandable for high school swimmers to take it easy at Pahoa with the HHSAA championships on tap the following week at Naeole, Axelson carries a different mind-set.
“I believe I can” go all out at each meet, Axelson said, “but I don’t look at it that way. I think of it as I have a meet this week, let’s focus on that meet. I have a meet next week, so let’s focus on that meet when it comes up. Everything is in the moment.”
