KAILUA-KONA —As the old saying goes, “Records are made to be broken,” and for the second year in a row that motto proved to be true as Aulea’s ‘Aukai Lileikis once again broke the Hawaiian age group state record and
KAILUA-KONA —As the old saying goes, “Records are made to be broken,” and for the second year in a row that motto proved to be true as Aulea’s ‘Aukai Lileikis once again broke the Hawaiian age group state record and Hawaiian state record in the 200-yard freestyle at the state age group short course championships.
Lileikis glided through the water while competing in the 17-18 year old division on Saturday at the Kona Community Aquatic Center. He finished in a time of 1 minute and 34.96 seconds, beating last year’s record time of 1:36.86.
“When I touched I was super stoked,” Lileikis said. “I was just trying to hammer that third 50 and that was the difference in my race.”
Swimming runs in the family for Lileikis, who’s uncle Joe Lileikis owned the previous state record in the 200 freestyle with a time of 1:37.39, which was set in 1985 during his senior year at the University of Hawaii.
“It is a super special thing and my uncle was a legend at UH,” ‘aukai Likeikis said. “I am really happy to keep the record in the family and keep that tradition going.”
Along with his record breaking performance, the young Lileikis also garnered gold the 100-yard breaststroke (56:34) and in the 100-yard butterfly (48:36).
The young Lileikis has a bright future ahead of him in swimming and has his goals set high.
“I will be training for the Arena Pro in Texas in January and then in June I have the Olympic Trials,” Lileikis said.
Aulea coach Joe Glenn has no doubt that Lileikis can go far in the sport and was happy with his performance on Saturday.
“He got second place in the Junior Nationals last year in the same event, which included the top 18-and-under swimmers in the country and that kind of motivated him a little bit,” Glenn said. “He went out there today and put it all on the line.
“He is training for some bigger meets and this was a good step along the way and it shows what he is doing is working,” Glenn added. “He is a phenomenal athlete and has a scholarship to UC Berkeley. He has a great feel for the water, is a hard worker and has the physical tools to take this as far as he wants.”
Big day for Kona’s Lawson
Kona Aquatic’s Maile Lawson also had a big day on Saturday while competing in the 13-14 year old division. The young swimmer picked up two first place finishes, and placed in the top-3 in four events.
“We have a great working relationship with Maile and the fact that she is so coachable is the key,” veteran Kona Aquatics head coach Steve Borowski said. “She has a real positive outlook on training and swimming. She is a pleasure to have around.”
Lawson opened the evening with a dominating performance in the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:03.63, which was more than three seconds faster than the next swimmer and just missed the age group state record of 1:03.43. She followed that up with a second place finish in the 200-yard freestyle. With a time of 1:55.38, she touched the wall less than a tenth of a second slower than Punahou Aquatic’s Syd Whitty.
After the oh-so-close finish, Lawson added another dominating performance, this time in the 400-yard IM. Her time of 4:35.34 was four seconds faster than the second place finisher.
Lawson wrapped up her day with a third place performance in the 400-yard medley relay. Teaming with Maile Fediuk, Bella Zambrana and Ku’ulei Patterson, the Kona Aquatics relay team finished in a time of 4:12.79.
Saturday’s top-3 finishers
Lawson wasn’t the only Big Island competitor to pick up a top-3 finish on Day 2 of the state meet.
Hilo Aquatic’s Na’inoa Loo finished first in the boys 11-12, 50 yard butterfly with a time of 26.99. Also picking up individual top-three finishes were Academy Swimming Club’s Frida Berglund (second, girls 17-18, 200-yard freestyle, 1:54.89) Academy’s Frederik Moller (third, boys 15-16, 100-yard freestyle, 52:52) and Kona Aquatics’s Katie Jefferson (third, girls 17-18, 100-yard butterfly, 58:58).
The Hilo Aquatics relay team of Loo, Justin Chow, Aipono Valente and Kana’i Eckart finished second in the 11-12 boys, 400-yard medley with a time of 4:29.23).
Friday’s top-3 finishers
Friday was a slower day for the the Big Island swim clubs. The Hilo Aquatics 11-12 year old, 400-yard freestyle relay team led the way with the lone first place finish in a time of 3:56.43. The team was comprised of Chow, Valente, Eckart and Loo.
Academy Swimming Club’s boys 15-16 year old, 400-yard freestyle relay team of Moller, Matthew Ostrem, Johnny Yoon and Michael Duggan placed second in a time of 3:26.44. Teammates Karly Noetzel, Kira Parker, Janelle Laros and Taylor Doherty finished third in the girls 15-16 year old, 400-yard freestyle relay race with a time of 3:41.36.
The Kona Aquatics girls 13-14 year old, 400-yard freestyle relay team of Lawson, Zambrana, Patterson and Loea Andrade placed third in a time of 3:49.24.
Individually, Loo finished second in the boys 11-12, 400-yard IM with a time of 4:52.38. Also picking up individual top three performances were Kona’s Katie Jefferson (second, girls 17-18, 1650-yard freestyle, 18:27.21) and Warrior Aquatic Club’s Korrie Tengan (3rd, girls 11-12, 400-yard IM, 4:54.85).
