The 2003 Local Motion Swimming and Diving Championships are tomorrow and Saturday at Duke Kahanamoku Aquatic Complex. Iolani boys try to
keep swimming, diving titleStar-Bulletin staff
Defending state champion Iolani and Punahou are among the favorites on both the boys and girls side. Waiakea will look to defend its girls title.
The Raiders boys team has been getting consistently strong performances from Mark Eckert and Hong Zhe Sun, while Noa Sakamoto leads the Buffanblu into the season's final meet.
Sun's qualifying time of 1:50.42 in the 200-yard individual medley is more than three seconds better than the state meet record of 1:53.72, set by Carl Larsen in 1995.
Sun is also the top qualifier in the 100 backstroke. He set the meet record for the event in 2001 with a time of 49.95.
Eckert is the meet's top qualifier in the 200 and 500 freestyle events, while Sakamoto's qualifying times are right behind. He will try to better the state meet record of 1:39.89 he set last year in the 200 freestyle.
Two Kapolei swimmers are among the individual favorites -- Meredith Egloria in the girls 50 and 100 freestyle and Ed Afualo in the boys 100 breaststroke.
Egloria owns the best qualifying time in the 100 freestyle and her qualifying time in the 50 freestyle is second only to Chelsea Nagata of Maui. Nagata is also the top qualifier in the 100 butterfly.
Kamaile Crowell is one of the top swimmers for the Punahou girls team. The Buffanblu have won 41 state girls team titles since 1958, and had a string of three straight titles snapped by Waiakea last year.
Waiakea, the first neighbor island team to win a state girls championship, captured the Big Island Interscholastic Federation title earlier this month.
Ronnie Oda of the Kamehameha girls and Drew Wallace of the Punahou boys are among the favorites in the one-meter diving event.
Diving events start tomorrow at 9 a.m., with the semifinals and finals on Saturday from 8:30 to 11 a.m. The swimming trials are tomorrow at 3:30 p.m. and the finals are Saturday at 1 p.m.
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