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Monday, February 26, 2001
Each time Nick Borreca hit the water in last Saturday's finals of the Local Motion State Swimming and Diving Championships, he finished with a new state high school swimming record. Borreca swimmer
of record at statesBy Brandon Lee
Special to the Star-BulletinThe Punahou junior set individual records in the 50- and 100-yard freestyle (20.80 and 45.24 seconds), and was part of record-setting teams in the 200- and 400-freestyle relays (1:27.09 and 3:10.78).
Borreca's four-race rewrite of the record books was the highlight of strong performances from the Buffanblu boys and girls, as they both captured the overall team swimming titles at the Duke Kahanamoku Aquatic Complex.
Punahou's boys finished with 75 points in capturing their 39th of 44 state titles. The girls finished with 62 points in winning their 41st of 44."Can't get much better than this, I'm real proud of the team," Borreca said. "I had a focus, I knew what we had to do as a team. I tried to do my part. This is the sweetest thing in the world."
Borreca entered the meet as the two-time defending champion in the 200 and 500 freestyle, but showed his versatility in moving to and then dominating the sprint races this year.
"I liked it a lot," said Borreca of the switch. "(It involves a) lot less swimming, so I was happy with that."
Like Borreca, all of his Buffanblu teammates performed strong from the beginning to end of the meet. The boys and girls racked up points early and then sustained their teams' leads through the late races. Even Punahou swimmers who were not among the top qualifiers stepped it up for the finals to place in the top five and earn valuable points.
"They performed great, just absolutely awesome," said chlorine-soaked Punahou coach Kenny Chew after he was thrown into the pool in celebration. "(The teams) had set their goals at the beginning of the season to hopefully win the state championship and they actually went out and did it today.
"It was very impressive the way we got out and we started to go, and I think the whole team fed off that energy for the whole meet."
Iolani's boys finished second overall with 63 points, and defending champion Baldwin came in third with 37. Waiakea finished as runner-up for the girls with 52 points, and Iolani took third with 26.
Three other records fell last Saturday. Iolani sophomore Hong Zhe Sun joined Borreca as the only boys to win two individual events with record-setting performances, winning the 200 freestyle (1:40.78) and 100 backstroke (49.95).
Punahou set the only record for the girls in the 400 freestyle relay (3:37.83).
"We're happy with the performances," Iolani coach Brian Lee said. "The kids did what they had to do. We didn't swim poorly -- Punahou just swam outstandingly."
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