Baldwin Sweeps Boys and Girls MIL Swim Titles

Seabury Hall’s Renny Richmond at the start of the 200 IM Saturday at the Kihei Aquatics Center. Photo by Rodney S. Yap.

By Rodney S. Yap

The depth of the Baldwin High School swim team does not appeared to be exaggerated.

The Bears showcased their range in both the girls and the boys divisions by winning 11 events and scoring at least one point in 23 of 24 possible events Saturday to easily sweep the Maui Interscholastic League Swimming & Diving Championships at the Kihei Aquatics Center.

The Baldwin boys wowed onlookers with a second-, third- and fourth-place finish in the 100-yard fly at the midway point of the meet. But that was nothing compared to the 1-2-3 finish the school’s breaststrokers saved for event 22 that left little doubt as to the meet’s outcome well before official team results were read.

Baldwin’s MIL champion Jonah Hu. Photo by Rodney S. Yap.

“I think that was the turnaround for us, getting 13 points in just that one event was really fun to watch,” said Baldwin head coach Laura Lipp. “I think the girls had a lot of energy through the whole meet . . . and we have a lot of depth on the boys side and I think that was really important for us points wise.”

Baldwin’s boys and girls put up identical winning totals of 84 points. Seabury Hall was second in the boys division with 55, followed by Lahainaluna’s 43 and Kamehameha Schools Maui was fourth with 38. Seabury was also runner-up on the girls side with 63 points, Kamehameha Schools Maui was third with 31 and Maui Preparatory Academy had 27.

Carter Suzuki, Troy Kojenlang and Rysen Otomo were Baldwin’s breaststrokers who outscored the Spartans 13-1 in the 100.

The top step of the medal platform got to see plenty of Baldwin’s Sheila Altura, who won four gold medals, and Jonah Hu, who wore three of his own by day’s end.

“We have come together as a team,” said Hu, the league champion in the 100 and 200 freestyles and part of the first-place 200 medley relay team and runner-up 200 free relay. “We have dug deep and we’re pulling out some great swims and we had a lot of our best times.”

“Jonah, Carter, Reece Murata, Troy Kojenlang, they all stepped up,” said Lipp. “They swam their best times and they were all excited for their races and knew that they could do it for the team.”

Baldwin’s 100 breaststroke winner Carter Suzuki led the Bears to a sweep of the event. Photo by Rodney S. Yap.

In one of the closest races, Altura beat defending state champion Danielle Jefferies of Maui Prep Academy by 0.07 seconds in the 100 fly.

Altura’s win over Jefferies came two events after the Baldwin senior won the 50 free in 25.42 seconds. She later swam the first leg of the Bears’ winning freestyle relays at 200 and 400 yards.

“Sheila Altura was the standout, winning the 100 fly was awesome,” Lipp said. “The relays were fabulous, our free-stylers really were up there, we had a lot of kids in the (individual medleys) step it up. Not everybody gets to swim exactly what they want, so everybody had a great attitude about swimming for the team.”

Joining Altura on the winning relay teams were Dana Leonhard, Alyssa Waki and Maya Sinclair, the Bears’ only other individual girls champion (100 free).

“We have come together as a team,” said Hu, the league champion in the 100 and 200 freestyles and part of the first-place 200 medley relay team and runner-up 200 free relay. “We have dug deep and we’re pulling out some great swims and we had a lot of our best times.”

Maui Prep Academy’s Danielle Jefferies swims to victory Saturday at Kihei Aquatics Center. Photo by Rodney S. Yap.

Hu, Suzuki and diver Jonathan You were Baldwin boys’ individual champions.

The event marked the final high school meet on the Valley Isle Seabury Hall’s Renny Richmond, who closed his MIL individual career with titles in the 100 butterfly and 200 individual medley, and added wins in the 200 and 400 free relays.

Seabury held off a stubborn Baldwin team in the 200 relay en route to an all-Maui record time of 1 minute, 28.17 seconds. Zack Kresge, John Van Scoy and Ryan Koss joined Richmond on the winning relay team that bettering the mark set by Baldwin in 1994 by 1.76 seconds.

The only other double individual gold medalist was Lahainaluna’s Jesselee Chapman, in the girls 200 and 500 frees.

The record-breaking Seabury Hall 200 relay en route to an all-Maui record time of 1 minute, 28.17 seconds. From left, Ryan Koss, John Van Scoy, Zack Kresge and Renny Richmond made up the winning quartet that bettering the mark set by Baldwin in 1994 by 1.76 seconds. Photo by Rodney S. Yap.