Excitement filled the air at the Oahu Interscholastic Association Swimming and Diving Championships yesterday afternoon as a near-capacity crowd of 600 fans at Central Oahu Regional Park Pool watched Pearl City's Daren Choi destroy meet records in the boys 50- and 100-yard freestyle races.

“;I've been training really hard lately. I swam those times before in practice. So today I knew I could go faster and I just went for it,”; Choi said after breaking the second record.

Choi won the 50-yard event in 21.66, eclipsing the mark of 21.76 set by Scott Colman in 1987. In the 100-yard race, Choi touched the wall in 47.05. The old record was 48.12 swam by Colman in 1987.

Kaiser also had a great day, winning the girls team title with 282 points and finishing second in the boys team competition with 191 points.

Mililani won the boys team title with 230 points, led by triple winner Dane Kawamoto. He captured gold medals in the 200-yard IM (2:02.84) and 100-yard butterfly (53.99) and as a member of the winning 200-yard medley relay team.

Freshman Ashley Tuten of Leilehua dominated in the girls 200-yard freestyle (2:01.65) and the 500-yard freestyle (5:27.07) races.

“;They say I have long legs and arms,”; Tuten said in explaining how she was able to defeat her older competitors.

“;I've only been swimming competitively for three years,”; Tuten added. “;I guess I'm just a natural swimmer. But I know at states I will have to swim faster.”;

Swimming fast at the state championships on Friday and Saturday on the Big Island is something Choi expects to happen for him.

“;At states everything is going to be faster. Fast lanes and fast competitors,”; Choi said. “;I know going into this meet that I have to be much faster if I hope to win.”;

Miliani's Kiana White says winning at the state meet would be extremely rewarding for her.

A winner in the girls 200-yard IM race (2:16.24), White said, “;This is my senior year, so I got to go there and give it my all. I've worked all of these past four years for this special race.”;

Kaiser was able to garner major points in the diving competition. The Cougars' Hunter Long took first place in the girls 1-meter dive with 311 points, followed by teammate Tyler Burke with 272.25 points.

The Kaiser girls won relays in the 200-yard relay event (1:47.32) and the 200-yard medley race. They placed second in the 400-yard freestyle relay race.

“;This is one of our deepest teams we've had in many years,”; commented Kaiser coach Reinhart Lai Hipp. “;Practically all of our swimmers swam their best times today.”;

Lai Hipp says the team was able to amass a large point total because many of his swimmers swam in events that weren't their normal races to help with team scoring.

“;I switched around many of our swimmers so that we could get a good balance in all of the races. That strategy played a major role in our winning,”; Hipp said.