Maui High’s Swanson wins HHSAA state swim crown for second straight season

With 50 yards to go in her final race of the high school season, Maui High School junior Aika Swanson was in a tight battle for first place in the 500-yard freestyle at the K. Mark Takai/HHSAA state swimming championships on Saturday.

That’s when Swanson tapped into the mental toughness that has made her the only Maui Interscholastic League girl swimmer to win a state title in each of the last two years. In a bang-bang finish, Swanson swam the final 50 yards in 28.31 seconds — 0.22 seconds faster than ‘Iolani’s Olivia Wong over the span — as she came from behind to win in the final three strokes of the longest race on the high school docket.

When Swanson anxiously looked up at the scoreboard after touching the wall she saw that she was the winner of the race, in 5:00.56. Wong was a fingernail behind in second place in 5:00.59. 

Maui Preparatory Academy’s Sacha Salem was third in 5:02.91.

Earlier in the day, Wong beat Swanson in the 200 freestyle final by 0.49 seconds, 1:51.12 to 1:51.61. Last season, Swanson was the 200 free state champion.

“It feels really great, especially after my first event didn’t go as planned, I didn’t feel as well,” Swanson said via phone Saturday from O‘ahu. “So, it is great to rebound and make myself proud, make my family proud, and my coach.”

Second place in the 200 free did not sit well with her on Saturday at the University of Hawai’i’s Duke Kahanamoku Swimming and Diving Complex.

“I was feeling pretty bad after the (200) race, but did my best to get my spirits up and really just stay with the competition,” she said. “The last 50 (of the 500) what was just going through my head was just ‘go, go, go, go. This is my last 50. I know I will be proud of myself if I at least just give it my all in this last event.’ It was a fierce race, it was nerve-wracking, for sure.“

Swanson will go to the state age group championships on O‘ahu in March and then the National Interscholastic Swim Coaches Association meet in June in Orlando, Fla., as a two-time state champion. She has been chasing a 1:48.29 cut time in the 200 free for the USA Swimming Junior National meet for a few months, but hasn’t reached it yet.

“I am very proud of myself for that 500, I wasn’t really expecting it, but I’m glad I pulled it off, I’m glad I really gave it my all,” Swanson said. “The 200, I wish things would have gone different, but I’m going to stay patient, I’m going to stay dedicated and have the perseverance to just pull it though so I can continue to chase that cut.”

Swanson’s coach Reid Yamamoto said the 500 state title shows the mental toughness his young standout has built up while in pursuit of the Junior Nationals qualifying time. He believes that went a long way in her bounce back on Saturday to win the MIL’s only state crown.

“The thing that I was most proud of was her actually coming back and fighting and just being a survivor,” Yamamoto said. “It was awesome. Just to see her come back and fight like that, it made me even more excited. And for her to win it, it was just icing on the cake. She’s grown a lot in terms of her mental toughness. And it’s still growing.”

In addition to her third-place finish in the 500, Salem was second in the 200 individual medley. Kamehameha Maui freshman Storer Cruz was second in the boys 100 backstroke and fourth in the 100 free.

Other MIL individual finalists included: Kihei Charter’s Sova Meyer, who was fourth in girls 1-meter diving; Baldwin’s Kieran Harper was fifth and Kaiden Yoshikawa was seventh in boys 1-meter diving; King Kekaulike’s Xander Hurst was eighth in the boys 200 free and fifth in the 500 free; Maui Prep’s Halia Caiserman was sixth in the girls 100 butterfly; Lahainaluna’s Jake McGill was fourth in the boys 50 free and 100 butterfly; and Maui High’s Ryan Ong finished fifth in the boys 100 butterfly.

In relays, Maui Prep girls finished sixth in the 200 medley and fifth in the 400 free.

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BOYS BASKETBALL: Seabury Hall seeded No. 1 in Division II, Baldwin seeded No. 4 in Division I

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Seabury Hall, the state runner-up last season, is the top seed in Division II for the HHSAA state championships. The Spartans will play Kaiser on Wednesday in the quarterfinals at 5 p.m. at Kaimukī High School gym.

Baldwin is seeded No. 4 in the HHSAA Division I tournament. Baldwin opens the tournament on Wednesday in the quarterfinals at 5 p.m. at McKinley High School.

MIL D-I runner-up Kamehameha Maui lost a heartbreaker, 42-41, to University Lab School in a first-round game Monday. The Junior Bows will now play third-seeded Kamehameha Hawai‘i on Wednesday at Moanalua High School at 5 p.m. in the quarterfinals. The Warriors’ season is over at 12-10. Cody Gardanier led Kamehameha Maui with 19 points.

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WRESTLING: Baldwin wins boys and girls MIL team titles, states Feb 21-22

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Baldwin High School won the boys and girls team titles at the Central Pacific Bank MIL wrestling championships at King Kekaulike High School on Saturday.

The Bears boys scored 160.5 points to outdistance second-place King Kekaulike by 25 points. Lahainaluna was third with 132.

The Bears girls scored 141.5 points to beat Moloka‘i by 13. Lahainaluna was third with 88.5.

The Texaco/HHSAA state championships are Friday and Saturday at the Neal S. Blaisdell Arena.

“Monday Morning MIL” columns appear weekly on Monday mornings with updates on local sports in the Maui Interscholastic League and elsewhere around Maui County. Please send column ideas — anything having to do with sports in Maui County — as well as results and photos to rob@hjinow.org.