Punahou's Rachel Fujita made a big splash yesterday afternoon at the Interscholastic League of Honolulu Swimming and Diving Championships, winning two individual events and participating in two victorious team relay races.

Fujita's effort helped Punahou overwhelmingly win the girls team title with 93 points. On the boys side, Punahou captured the team title with 82.50 points.

“;It feels great to win,”; Fujita said. “;I've been working hard all season long. But I have to give credit to my teammates. They pushed me to get to the level where I'm at today.”;

Fujita won the 50-yard freestyle race in 24.51 seconds and the100-yard freestyle race in 53.04. The senior helped her team win the 200-yard freestyle relay event in 1:40.54 and the 400-yard freestyle relay race in 3:40.99.

“;This day will always be special for me. Now I'm looking forward to states. It will be special also because I will get a chance to travel to a neighbor island which is always exciting for me,”; Fujita said.

The meet held at Punahou's Elizabeth Waterhouse Memorial Swimming Pool showcased a dominating performance by the host team in the relay races with Punahou winning all three girls relay races and the boys winning two of the three relay races.

Besides winning the two relay races which Fujita participated in, Punahou took first in the girls 200-yard medley relay race in 1:53.67. The Punahou boys prevailed in the 200-yard medley relay event in 1:41.08 in addition to winning gold medals in the 200-yard freestyle relay race in 1:29.67.

Defending state champion 'Iolani couldn't quite keep up with the Punahou boys team despite having two triple winners in Kacy Johnson and Kevin Jones.

Finishing second with 62.50 points wasn't that disappointing to 'Iolani coach Brian Lee.

“;We knew coming into this meet that Punahou would be tough to defeat. They have good overall talent especially in the relay events. Nevertheless, this was a great meet for our individual swimmers. Both Johnson and Jones showed that they are solid competitors in this league,”; Lee said.

Johnson, a sophomore, touched the wall first in the 200-yard IM race in 1:53.33 and in the 100-yard butterfly in 51.33.

“;We are not as strong as last year. We lost quite a few good swimmers to graduation. But today we challenged Punahou with our hearts. We are just a couple of swimmers short of pulling even with them,”; Johnson said.

Jones, a winner in the 200-yard freestyle race (1:45.33) and 500-yard freestyle event (4:47.08), feels 'Iolani has a chance to repeat as state champions.

“;We can repeat if we don't back down. At states anything can happen, plus there are more teams competing to spread out the scoring,”; Jones said.

Both Johnson and Jones were members of 'Iolani's winning 400-yard freestyle relay team (3:16.99).

At the diving event held on Friday, Punahou's Kathryn Chinn secured first place in the girls 1-meter event with 421.40 points and Spencer Madanay took the boys 1-meter event by recording 421.60 points.

The state championship will be held on Feb. 12 and 13 on the Big Island.

Kaiser, Mililani sweep

Kaiser swept the OIA Eastern championships and Mililani rolled through the West yesterday at Veterans Memorial Aquatic Center.

Pearl City's Daren Choi was the individual star, breaking West meet records in the 200 medley (1:58.12) and 100 butterfly (52.52). The Mililani boys broke the record in the 200 freestyle relay with a time of 1:33.52.

Brandon Johnson of the Hawaii School for Deaf and Blind broke the record in the 1-meter dive in the East meet with a score of 447.95.