Kaiser seniors Mari Yasumi, Erin Patterson and Sophie Harrison got a little help from sophomore Sofia Carlson to put the perfect ending on their OIA prep swimming careers.
The foursome set the meet record in the 400 freestyle relay on Saturday by more than four seconds to help the Cougars claim their 10th consecutive league title at the OIA Swimming and Diving Championships at K. Mark Takai Veterans Memorial Aquatic Center.
The win gave Yasumi, Patterson and Harrison three gold medals each on the day and the trio has combined for 27 golds at the OIA championships in their prep careers.
All three also swam on the 200 medley relay team that won and Yasumi added her third consecutive win in the 500 freestyle to give her 11 career golds.
Patterson picked up a win in the 100 backstroke to give her nine career OIA golds and Harrison won the 200 freestyle to collect her seventh gold in two years since transferring to Kaiser.
The San Diego State signee, who won an ILH gold in the 100 butterfly as a freshman at Pac-Five, broke her OIA meet record in the event this year but it wasn’t enough to win.
Leilehua junior Kaya Takashige held off Harrison to win in 55.63 seconds while Harrison swam it in 55.77. The record was Harrison’s 56.38 she swam last year.
Cougars junior Jill Chaffee won the 1-meter diving event for the third straight year and can pull off the career slam next year.
Other multiple winners on the girls side were Kalani senior Kate Fujii, who won the 50 freestyle, 100 freestyle and 200 freestyle relay events to give her seven career golds.
Falcons junior Paulina Ruelas won the 200 individual medley and 200 freestyle relay to increase her gold medal total to five and Takashige also won the 100 breaststroke.
Kalani’s boys team successfully defended their league crown and it came down to the final race.
The Falcons edged Mililani by 1/100th of a second in the 400 freestyle relay with senior Khris Hokama-Decker swimming the final leg to win his fourth medal of the day and sixth in the last two years. Hokama-Decker set a meet record to win the 50 freestyle in 21.03 seconds and also won gold in the 100 butterfly and 200 freestyle relay.
Those were the only four events Kalani won. Kaiser’s Micah Ginoza won the 500 freestyle with a time of 4:39.85 and Cougars senior Jarrett Takahashi held off Kalaheo freshman Zachery West to win the 100 backstroke.
OIA West teams won six different boys events for the first time since 2013. Mililani junior Kosmo Wojack hand a hand in three of them, earning gold medals in the 100 breaststroke, 200 individual medley and 200 medley relay.
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