RICHARD WALKER / RWALKER@STARBULLETIN.COM
Iolani's Hongzhe Sun shattered the record in the boys 200-yard individual medley yesterday in the state championships.The skinheads of Iolani and the small army of Waiakea ruled the day at yesterday's Local Motion State Swim and Dive Championships at Duke Kahanamoku Pool. Iolani and Waiakea
win swimming titlesBy Nick Abramo
The Iolani boys team had too much depth for the rest of the field and scored a convincing victory with 86 points. Punahou was the closest competitor, with 60. During the awards ceremony, the meet announcer jokingly referred to the Raiders as the "skinheads" because they all had shaved heads.
Boys 1 meter diving: Drew Wallace (Punahou, SO) 439.65 (new); 439.25 (old record set by Harold Hansen of Kalani in 1979) New state records
Boys 200 yard IM: Hongzhe Sun (Iolani, SR) 1:49.17 (new); 1:50.35 (old record set by Hongzhe Sun in 2003 prelims)
Boys 400 freestyle relay: Iolani School (Mark Eckert, JR; Damon Jones, JR; Daniel Lim, SO; Hongzhe Sun, SR) 3:09.71 (new); 3:10.44 (old record set by Punahou in 2002)
"The win was nice, but more importantly for the boys is the preparation and doing the best they can," said Iolani coach Brian Lee, whose team repeated as champions. "They really support each other and do things more for the team than themselves."
The Waiakea girls team also repeated as champion, but its title drive wasn't the same as a year ago.
"We had some dominant swimmers last year, but not this year," Warriors coach Dan Lyons said. "We only had six kids on the team, a small, little army. We had to plan on swimming strong in the relays. The other teams have like 14 or 15 kids. But our army is a lot bigger when you include all the parents and friends that were praying for us and supporting us."
Waiakea scored 50 points and broke open a tight fight against Punahou in the final few events. The Buffanblu came in second with 41 points.
Iolani senior Hongzhe Sun, who is headed to Stanford in the fall, was the meet's brightest individual star and the driving force behind the Raider boys victory.
With a time of 1:49.17 in the 200 individual medley, Sun shattered the record of 1:50.35 he set in Friday's trials.
"I felt like I swam a good race," Sun said. "I was trying to improve on the breaststroke and freestyle legs. I ended up being over a second better in the breast and a half-second better in the free. That's why I was able to do it. It's my senior year and I wanted to make my last meet special."
Sun teamed with Mark Eckert, Daniel Lim and Damon Jones to set a state 400 freestyle relay record of 3:09.71.
In addition, Sun was part of the winning 200 freestyle relay team, and he captured the 100 backstroke.
Cassie Kaapu-Lyons, the Waiakea coach's daughter, placed second in the 100-yard breaststroke, giving the Warriors a five-point lead going into the final girls event, the 400-yard freestyle relay.
And that relay team of Marlene Yafuso, Tiffany Bumatay, Whitney Nekoba and Tamarah Binek didn't let the small army down by edging Punahou 3:37.84 to 3:38.00 to wrap up the championship.
"It was great to be able to do it (win the title) again, especially with only six girls," Kaapu-Lyons said.
As they've done all season, Punahou's Noa Sakamoto and Iolani's Eckert competed fiercely in the boys 200 and 500 freestyles. Eckert had the upper hand all year, but yesterday was Sakamoto's turn.
In the 200, Sakamoto passed Eckert in the last 25 yards and edged him 1:39.55 to 1:39.77. In the 500, Sakamoto pulled away on the last lap to win by over two seconds.
"I didn't think about it too much, found my race and went out and had fun," Sakamoto said after the victory in the 200. "It's good to peak right at this time."
Eckert broke the state 200 record last year in 1:39.28, and was disappointed in this year's slower time.
"I wanted to swim faster, way faster," Eckert said. "He (Noa) was sick at the ILH meet this year, so I knew he would do better this time. He's always fast when it counts."
Eckert, like Sun, was part of two winning relay teams.
Kapolei freshman Meredith Egloria won two events -- the 50 and 100 freestyles -- in her first state meet.
"I'm proud of it," Egloria said. "But you can always do better. When I got in the water, I was really loose and didn't feel tense or anything until after the (50-yard) race. That's when my muscles got really sore."
Iolani's Lee said his winning 200 medley relay team of Dane Wayman, Julian Price, Jonathan Lau and Pat Morrisey gave the Raiders an early boost.
"We know relays are real important," he said. "We went without both Mark and Hong in that first one and the other kids really stepped it up. When they won it, we knew we were in really good shape for the later relays with Mark and Hong."
Said Sun: "It's a real big accomplishment winning it for a second year in a row. We all worked really hard and this reward is what we need."
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