News From Western Zones in Hawaii

Aug 9, 2009
Here is some news from Liliana Brasali about our Dolphins at Western Zones in Hawaii:
 
Sunday 08/09/09
Wow...it certainly was a different view to see. No block, no gutter, no lane lines, just water, a clear beautiful water of Waimea Beach (http://www.hawaiiweb.com/oahu/beaches/waimea_bay_beach_park.htm) all around the kids. Some of them even got a chance to swim with a turtle! When we got there it’s a little bit overcast, sprinkling here and there, but didn’t stop the kids from swimming. The event initially was cancelled due to lack of participation, but because of the good people of Hawaiian Swimming, they reopened it. And boy were they in for a surprise! I think closed to, or maybe even more than, 200 swimmers registered at the last minutes. Some of CCS swimmers were the top 8 finisher. Sorry, I don’t have the info for the result.
After that they went to the rock on the left side of the park, and challenged each other to jump down to about 20 ft below. They had so much fun that they did it again, not only once or twice, but at least 3 times. They wanted to do more, but had to go because of times. I attached some more pictures.
 
Saturday, 8/8/09

Yippee, last day!! Finally, after very long days for the last 4 weeks!!
- It was the toughest day for Hanaya, but turned out to be his best day. He made it to final on both his events (thanks to all your support n prayers), followed by 200 free relay, as a lead swimmer. After coming in 56.96 on the 100 free prelim, he swam 57.72 on final, placing 7th. On the 200 IM, he improved in the prelim to 2:22.08, and swam even better on final at 2:21.61 after only 7 minutes break from his 100 free final. He then led the relay with 25.37. They got the 3rd place! It’s a great way to finish this memorable Zone in Hawaii. 
- Katrina swam her personal best again. She improved her 100 free to 1:06.78, and the 200 IM from 3:03.22 to 2:58.84.
- Tomorrow some of them will participate at the open ocean swim. Its gonna be a totally different experience. But I think they will have a lot of fun.

I wish for all the Dolphins swimmers to have a chance to swim at Zones. It was totally a different atmosphere. A lot of spirit and camaraderie. The people who you usually compete against, now become your buddies. You are swimming with them. You are cheering for each other! I saw a lot of swimmers perform his/her best. It would be a great experience.

Until we see each other again... have a great break and MAHALO from Hawaii,
wan, liliana, hania n hanaya
 
Friday, 08/07/09

What a great day for CCS! We have a total of 17 swimmers, and today we had 17 finalists! We moved up one place from yesterday 10th place (94 pts) to ninth with 168 points.
Katrina swam her best on 400 free @ 5:28.79. She swam the last leg of 200 medley relay and I think she had her best at 29.94.
Hanaya swam 100 breast 1:13.18 in prelims, and qualified 6th. He bettered his time in finals to 1:12.66. That brought him to 5th place. It’s not his best 100 breast time, but he swam his best 50 free in the 200 medley relay at 24.98. These 2 events made him CCS boy swimmer of the day. He gets to wear the ’king’ hat all day tomorrow.
Tomorrow is going to be the toughest day for Katrina and Hanaya. Both will swim 100 free and 200 IM. The events are one after another. There is 200 free relay at the end of the day, and both of them are in it too.
Please send a prayer for both of them, so they will stay strong and focus till the last session.
 
Thursday, 08-06-09
Another great day for CCS. I think everybody swam his/her personal best time. Some got into the finals. Katrina cut her 100 fly from 1:19.52 to 1:18.07, and her 200 free from 2:38.89 to 2:30.06.
Hanaya’s 100 fly droped a bit from 1:03.70 to 1:03.52. He got to finals in his 400 IM, dropping from 5:05.70 to 5:05.56, but he got the yellow slip in finals for shoulder past vertical on the finish of the back stroke. :((
 
The weather has been really nice. Sunny, but not too hot, sometimes the clouds will pass bringing a little bit of a shower. The humidity is not too bad at all, and the breeze helps a lot. There is a hurricane peeking on the horizon, hopefully it will dissipate by the weekend so the open water swimming can go on as scheduled on Sunday morning. A lot of CCS swimmers will participate in this event.
 
So far Hanaya and Katrina are having a great time in Hawaii.
 
- They went snorkeling on the 1st morning, then off to the pool in the afternoon. It’s a nice 10 lane outdoor pool. Here is the link for the pool: http://activerain.com/blogsview/709017/Patsy-T-Mink-Central-Oahu-Regional-Park
- Second morning off to pool again, then to the Polynesian Cultural Center in the afternoon.  
- On the 3rd day, 1st day of competition, we had the 1500 Free. Courtney Chacon was the only CCS swimmer swimming this event. She did it under 18 minutes, and finished in 2nd place. In the afternoon we did the 400 free relays. Katrina swam the 3rd leg, in 1:06.05. CCS placed 9th for the 13-14 girls. Hanaya anchored for the boys, in 56.94, which earned them  4th place.
- On Wednesday, Katrina swam the 50 free, the same time as her seeded time at 30.28. Hanaya swam 26.07 in the prelim, and 25.87 in the final and got  3rd place. Later, both of them swam the freestyle part of the 400 medley relay. Katrina’s time 1:05.70, and Hanaya’s 57:79.
 
Here is the link to the real time result: http://www.live.hawaiianswimming.org/ . They don’t have the results for the 1st session, but the rest, up to Wed’s final are there.