KĪHEI AQUATIC CENTER — Today’s Maui Interscholastic League swim meet #5 showed the Kamehameha Schools Maui swim team what they need to improve on before the championships next weekend.

Although many of the swimmers struggled to meet their times, junior Leimana Hassett shaved three seconds off in her 200 meter freestyle race, making her best time yet.

“It was an average, but overall good meet today,” Coach Leighton Hao said. “You could tell who practiced hard because they improved.”

Senior Riley Shiraishi found that there is a lot that she and her team need to work on before MIL finals.

She said that their 200-meter medley relay team needs to work harder to get the times that they want. This team consisted of freshman Lia Ikeda swimming backstroke, senior Sarina Kong swimming breaststroke, junior Kela Killam swimming butterfly, and Shiraishi swimming freestyle.

Shiraishi said, “It was a little harder in this race, especially because one of our best swimmers wasn’t able to swim.”

Kong hopes to get a better time by working harder on her overall swim, which includes working on her dive, turns and stroke, while sophomore Spencer Shiraishi hopes to work on stretching his stroke.

“I didn’t think it went well, but with the right kind of practice we can be ready for MILs,” Spencer said.

“I am not sure what we are going to do [about improving] yet. It will take a lot of thinking,” Coach Hao said.

Help support the KSM swim team by cheering for them at the MIL semi-finals on Friday and/or finals next Saturday.