Chancellor’s scholarship in tow, Uekawa takes on challenge at UH

By MATT GERHART

Tribune-Herald sports writer

The little matter of earning a chancellor’s scholarship all but sealed Madisyn Uekawa’s decision to attend the University of Hawaii.

But if the former Waiakea High star swimmer needed another sign to point her to Manoa, she received it on her recruiting visit.

“Coach said I could swim and walk on,” Uekawa said. “He said they need breaststrokers. Everyone I talked to said “Oh good, we need a breaststroker.”

The scholarship — UH hands out a maximum of 80 a year based on academic merit — came packaged as the perfect 18th birthday present in March for Uekawa. It will cover all of her tuition costs and sets Uekawa up with her next big challenge.

“Division III would have been less competition,” she said, “but I’m going to try D-I.”

Uekawa has conquered the pools on Oahu before, especially in the breaststroke. She often blitzed older competition in age-group meets growing up, and she won Hawaii High School Athletic Association titles in the 100 during her freshman and sophomore seasons at Waiakea.

Admittedly, however, she became burnt out in the water toward the end of her junior season. She never thought of quitting, but it caused her to her re-evaluate her priorities.

“I knew I was going to keep swimming,” Uekawa said, “because I had to exercise.”

She said she started to get the fire back during her senior season as she wrapped up a stellar career with the Warriors that saw her go 8 for 8 in Big Island Interscholastic Federation championship races. The chancellor’s scholarship only furthers her resolve.

“Even more now because now I’m excited because everyone says college swimming is different and it’s going to be fun,” Uekawa said.

That’s a point that Hilo Aquatic Club coach Jon Hayashida likes to convey to all his pupils: there’s nothing quite like college swimming.

“You have the whole team that has a very high competitive focus,” said Hayashida, who started coaching Uekawa when she was 10. “It’s a very elite group. You don’t have people who are just there because they are forced to swim by their parents. They are all there because they want to swim.”

Uekawa will join her brother, Grant, at UH. She carried a 4.05 grade point average at Waiakea and is considering majoring in biology because of her interest in the medical field.

One matter that should help smooth her college transition: save for an extra Saturday practice, the Rainbow Wahine have a similar schedule to that of HAQ, with five morning practices and three in the afternoon.

“My brother says it’s hard, but he likes it and says you get used to it,” Uekawa said.

D-III Whitworth University in Spokane, Wash., was among the schools that offered her financial aid, but Hayashida has little doubt that Uekawa made the right choice.

“For her to pick UH, she’s decided to take the biggest challenge,” he said. “That’s good for her to go along with her new, revamped motivation to continue swimming. She really wants to be competitive, and I feel good that she has an idea of what she has to do.”