Monday Morning Maui Sports: Sakamoto Invitational draws 232 swimmers; Lahaina Swim Club’s Cruz Storer stands out

As 232 swimmers from 16 swim clubs from around the state and a couple from the Mainland took over Kīhei Aquatic Center for the last two days for the 49th annual Coach Soichi Sakamoto Invitational, Cruz Storer remained his calm self in his first swim meet at the top age group level.

Since he surprised himself at the K. Mark Takai/HHSAA state swimming and diving meet in February, coming home with second- and fourth-place finishes in the state high school meet as a 14-year-old freshman, Storer has not slowed down.

He turned 15 on May 12, shortly after setting four state records in the 13-14 age division at the Hawai‘i short-course state age group championships in March. Moving up to the much-tougher 15-18 age division has been seamless for Storer through his first big meet at the top level.

The Lahaina Swim Club standout was one of the most impressive swimmers over Memorial Day weekend at the Sakamoto Invitational — a staple on the Maui and Hawai‘i sports calendar for a half century. 

Storer finished second in the 100-yard backstroke and fourth in the 100 free at the state high school meet in February as a freshman for Kamehameha Schools Maui, triggering his impressive recent run.

“I definitely surprised myself at high school states,” Storer said after winning all three of his events Saturday under a baking Kīhei sun. “I know I did good, but I wasn’t expecting it to be that good.”

His Lahaina Swim Club coach, Jack Pope, a six-time state high school champion and standout at the University of the Pacific, sees tons of room for improvement in Storer’s strokes and technique.

“It’s a really exciting time for him,” said Pope, a 2008 Lahainaluna High School graduate who is now an English/language arts teacher at Lahaina Intermediate School. “Right now, he’s surprising everybody, he’s surprising himself. The true test is going to be in these next upcoming years when people know who he is, he knows what to do, and just to see how he tweaks everything and develops himself, not just as a swimmer, but as a young adult.”

Storer said he relishes being coached by Pope, who was very similar to Storer 20 years ago — an up-and-coming standout who wanted to set the pace every time he dove into a race.

“I definitely do want to be like him or maybe better,” Storer said.

Pope sees the similarities as well.

“This is his first meet kind of testing himself against the older kids,” Pope said. “The thing about Cruz is that he’s a very wild swimmer, it’s very raw right now, and … we’re focusing a lot on control.”

Considering the challenges that Lahaina Swim Club has overcome since a wildfire killed at least 102 people in their town on Aug. 8, 2023, Storer’s prowess is even more impressive. 

Legend Storer, a college swimmer at Concordia University Irvine this past school year until the school dropped the sport recently, drives his younger brother to practice at Lahaina Aquatic Center each day.

“I don’t have my driver’s license yet,” Cruz Storer said with a smile. 

The Lahaina Swim Club swimmers car-pooled to Kihei Aquatic Center for practices, sharing the South Maui pool with several other clubs, from August 2023 until the Lahaina Aquatic Center reopened in October 2024.

“A lot of what we teach is resiliency,” Pope said. “That’s what sports is about. Push through things that are difficult. That was no different. The added benefit to that was that I got to get very personal with the athletes. I know them. We, we went through something that was very significant.”

The COVID-19 pandemic canceled the Sakamoto meet in 2020 and 2021, but the 49th annual event drew 232 swimmers over the weekend, a high-water mark for the past decade for the meet hosted by the Maui Swim Club. 

When the meet returned from the pandemic, the number of swimmers who participated was fewer than 100 in 2022. In 2023, the total number of swimmers was 132 in its final staging at the Sakamoto pool in Wailuku. Last year, 172 swimmers took part in the first year the meet was held in Kīhei.

Kiki Matsumoto has been the head coach for Maui Swim Club for the last nine years. She said about 100 volunteers, from officials to timers, to concessions, to parking attendants, helped with the festivities.

“It’s just such a community effort, but especially Maui Swim Club,” Matsumoto said. “We’re known for our hospitality. We’re known for just the aloha of the swim meet. … I think that in itself draws people.”

Pope, who swam in the meet several times in his age group swimming career, is overjoyed to see the meet bounce back with solid participation numbers. The meet is named after the legendary hall of fame coach who trained several Maui swimmers to national titles and Olympic berths in the 1940s and 1950s — his Three Year Swim Club famously trained in irrigation ditches in Puʻunēnē.

“I have so many fond memories of this meet, in particular back when it was swum at the Sakamoto pool,” Pope said. “And it’s got such an incredible legacy to uphold that, to see people show up for it from different islands, Swim Kauai (Club), we have L.A. here, and to have all these people show up, it really pays a lot of homage to that legacy of Hawaiian swimming, Maui swimming, Sakamoto’s legacy. So, it’s always a pleasure to be here, it’s an honor to be here.”

In the final event of Saturday afternoon, Storer edged Xander Hurst of Hawai‘i Swim Club in the boys 15-18 400-meter freestyle by 0.4 seconds. Cruz caught Hurst on the final lap, touching in 4 minutes, 22.12 seconds, while Hurst touched in 4:22.52. Earlier Saturday, Storer won the 100 backstroke (1:04.76), and 50 free (24.91).

Hurst is almost fully recovered from a broken arm he suffered early in the Maui Interscholastic League season. He also finished fourth in the 50 free (25.82). Just six weeks after breaking his arm, Hurst won the MIL titles in the 200 and 500 freestyles. Two weeks after that, he was a state finalist in each those races.

“It hasn’t really bothered me too much or held me back too much the last couple weeks, maybe a couple months actually,” Hurst said of the injury. “So I’m pretty excited. I’m really excited about getting into this long course season and going and doing these big meets.”

On Sunday, Storer won the 200 free (2:02.87), while Hurst was second (2:04.35). In races the other did not swim, Hurst won the 200 backstroke (2:27.27) and Storer won the 100 free (55.18).

Storer smiled when asked if there is a rivalry between himself and Hurst, who will be a senior at King Kekaulike High School in the fall.

“Everyone here is like friends or family,” Storer said. “But, yeah, we have a little rivalry, we like competing with each other.”

Winning all five of his individual events put Storer atop the high-point scoring list in his new age group.

“It gives me a lot of confidence for next year,” Storer said. “I’m excited to see what I can do next year. And, yeah, I think I can do a lot better.”

Other Maui high-point scorers in their age group included: Kealani Aly, Lahaina Swim Club, 11-12 girls, 77 points; Connor Ventura, Maui Swim Club, 11-12 boys, 80 points; Aliesha Almiron, Maui Swim Club, 13-14 girls, 53 points; Sacha Salem, unattached, 15-18 girls, 53 points.

In the club standings, Aulea Swim Club of O‘ahu won with 772.5 points, Island Aquatics of Maui was second (598) and Maui Swim Club was third (578), Splash Aquatics of O‘ahu was fourth (566) and Lahaina Swim Club was fifth (427.5).

“Monday Morning Maui Sports” 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.