Swimmers Shine in Finals
This article was reprinted from the Hawaii Tribune Hearld.
`Iolani tandem shines in finals
by Kevin Jakahi
Tribune-Herald Sports Writer
Published: Sunday, February 14, 2010 8:15 AM HST
KEAAU -- `Iolani swimming coach Brian Lee is pretty good at dispensing life lessons in his motivational speeches, which must hit home.
That's because his two top boys swimmers -- Kacy Johnson and Kevin Jones -- start repeating his messages verbatim once they step out of the water.
That should bring a smile to the face of the veteran coach, who looks serious but owns a hearty laugh when poked in the ribs.
After 20 years at the school, with a combined 10 boys and girls state championships, Lee has a viewpoint geared toward long-lasting goals.
"I enjoy working with kids," he said. "I enjoy seeing them set goals, work hard and achieve those goals. Those are lessons they can carry on later in life."
Jones is a good example.
Lee noted that his senior, who won the 200-yard and 500 freestyles, was at practice 90 percent of the time.
That's due to his academic load, a reason he moved to Hawaii from Oregon a year ago. Sometimes the snooze button is an indispensable convenience after an all-night study session.
Besides a heavy school workload, the Raiders hold morning practice at 5:45 a.m. Monday, Wednesday and Friday and afternoon sessions every day.
Jones wants to go to Seattle University and study physics. He enjoys thermal dynamics, how heat makes things run, in his words.
Then he turned his attention to his long journey, pulling late nights, finding enough energy at practice and finally seeing his hard work fulfilled.
"It was hard," Jones said of winning two titles. "I had a lot of competition. I have to thank all my teammates who inspired me. Our school motto is 'One team' and I think we stuck to that."
Johnson helped, too, pushing Jones at practice and showcasing his talent with wins in the 100 free and 200 individual medley.
"He's one of the more dominant swimmers in Hawaii," Lee said. "He's limited to two individual events. He probably could have won five. Obviously he has talent, but he works hard and he has fun, so he deserves everything he gets. He has really, really good work habits and he has fun what he's doing."
Johnson has lived the life of a fish, getting an early start with his mom, Lisa, an age-group swim coach. He also plays water polo, but dumped football after dislocating his knees.
"My mom drowned me when I was little," he joked. "That started the whole thing. I was in the water at 18 months. What I love about swimming is learning about your progression, how your effort translates to things you're doing."
Like Sammy Moody, who won girls titles in the 100 butterfly and 200 free, Johnson wants to get faster for the Sectional championships in March in Seattle.
Last year, he was in the B-finals, the top 16 against some of the West Coast's best competition. The elite are in the A-finals, the top eight.
Moody is from La Pietra, which has an enrollment of roughly 200 students in grades sixth to 12. It's a school for girls tucked away near Diamond Head.
"Swimming is not as big as volleyball or basketball at our school," she said. "I'm the only representative at states from my school. I wanted to win, mostly to improve my times so I can go to Sectionals.
"Most people don't make it to the finals. My goal is to make it to the finals, get faster and do better. To get faster, I just have to train harder."
That sounds sort of like Lee's message of working hard for what you want.
E-mail Kevin Jakahi at kjakahi@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
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