Hawaii Names 8-Swimmer Team for 2018 Oceania Swimming Championships

2018 Oceania Swimming Championships

• June 25th-30th, 2018
• Pore Moresby, Papua, New Guinea

Team Hawaii will be sending 8 members to the 2018 Oceania Championships in Papua New Guinea. Hawaii is one of a handful of non-sovereign participants in the event, eligible because they are located in the Oceanic region, where they compete against much larger nations like Australia and New Zealand.

Hawaii won its first Oceania Championships medal in 2000, where John Flanagan took 2nd in the 1500 free: two years after representing the U.S. in the Team 5km swim at the 1998 World Championships. Flanagan has been the co-head swim coach at the Kamehameha Swim Club in Hawaii, with his brother Kevin, since 2001, where many of the more recent participants have come from. He’ll serve as the head coach of the delegation that will attend this year’s meet.

The 2018 event will be held in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea from June 26th-29th: the first time it has been hosted there. This year’s event will also incorporate a synchronized swimming event, and a a pair of open water events: a 5k on the opening day and a 10k on the closing day of the competition.

Another innovation this year: the “Island’s Medal” award will be given to the fatest 3 pool swimmers from Pacific Island Countries outside of the overall 3 fastest place winners who meet certain time standards. The program’s goal, while not explicitly stated, is to recognize athletes outside of the dominant Australia and New Zealand, who combined to win 94 of the 126 medals on offer in 2016.

Hawaii picked up 6 medals of the remaining events, including a silver from Michael Petrides in the men’s 1500 free (16:22.19). He’ll return as part of Hawaii’s roster this year.

Hawaii Swimming ranks athletes based on their two best events and assigns them ‘points’ based on a standardized scale. The top 4 male and female athletes are chosen to represent the island at the championships

The full roster, courtesy Hawaii Swimming:

• AHIA, JOSEPH.  Joe is a senior at Roosevelt High School and competes for Splash Aquatics.  Joe is a winter junior national qualifier in the 50 free, 100 breast and 100 fly events.  Most recently, Joe won the 50 free and 100 fly at the HHSAA high school championships.
• HORNER, JAEK.  Jaek is a junior at Kamehameha School and competes for Kamehameha Swim Club.  Jaek is a breaststroke, IM and mid distance free specialist and has winter national standards in the 100 and 200 breaststroke. In addition to being the HHSAA champion in the 100 breast in both 2017 and 2018 he was runner up in both the 100 and 200-meter breast at last summers USA swimming Futures Championships.
• KAWAKAMI, TYLER. Tyler is a junior at Punahou HS and competes for Punahou Aquatics.  Tyler is a veteran of the 2016 Oceania squad and is one of the top sprinters in the state of Hawaii.  Tyler holds winter junior national qualifying times in the 50, 100, and 200 free as well as the 100 breast.  Last summer he was a finalist at the USA Swimming Futures Championships
• LAWSON, MAILE. Maile is a junior in high school at Hawaii Prep Academy and swims for Kona Aquatics.  Maile competed for Team Hawaii at the 2016 Oceania Championships as well. Her best events being Breast and IM. Maile is a summer junior national qualifier in both the 100 and 200 breast and holds Hawaiian Swimming records in both breaststroke events for both short course and long course.
• MONAHAN, GRACE . Grace is an 8^th grader at the University Lab School and competes for Kamehameha Swim Club.  Grace has broken dozens of Hawaiian Swimming Age Group Records in short course and long course.  Grace has a summer junior national qualifying time in the 200 fly and finished the short course season ranked 4^th in the country for all 13-year-old girls in the 200 fly.
• O’BRIEN, JASMINE.  Jasmine is a Junior at Seabury Hall Academy in Maui and competes for Hawaii Swim Club.  In 2017, Jasmine broke one of the oldest high school records in the 500 free at HHSAA Championships.  Jasmine is a multiple event qualifier in the distance free events for winter junior nationals and last summer in Santa Clara she won the 400-meter freestyle at the USA Swimming Futures Championships.
• PETRIDES, MICHAEL. Michael is a junior at Mid Pacific Institute, has been swimming for 10 years and competes for Kamehameha SC. Michael competed for Team Hawaii at the 2016 Oceania Championships as well.  He is primarily a freestyler and has a Senior National time standard in the 200 free. He holds junior national time standards in the backstroker, butterfly and IM events and holds many Hawaiian Swimming Age Group records.  At the USA Swimming junior national west championship meet this past December, Michael placed 4^th in the 200-yard freestyle and 10^th in the 500-yard freestyle.
• WHITTY, SYDNEE.  Sydnee is a junior at Punahou High School and competes for Iolani Swim Club.  Sydnee is primarily a sprint freestyler and has won both the 50 and 100 free at the last two HHSAA Championship meets. Sydnee is qualified for winter junior nationals in both 50 and 100 free.  Most recently at the Speedo Champions Series Sectional Championships she was an A finalist in the 50 free and a B finalist in the 100 free.

TEAM OFFICIALS are:

• Head Coach JOHN FLANAGAN, Head coach of Kamehameha Swim Club
• Team Manager BILL SAKOVICH
• Team Doctor RANDY GERBER
• Team Chaperone DAR GERBER