Six years ago when Coach Randy Willis walked out on deck with only eight WaveRider swimmers, his first
words to the team were: “Team, there is no “I” in team. Relays are how we will rebuild this team. We
will engage all and use relays to create unity and speed”.
The 2023 high school swim season demonstrated the results of the philosophy. The Kealakehe girls and boys completed a very successful year. For the second straight year the girls won 8 of 12 events while sweeping all three relay events and winning their another BIIF Championship.
Led by seniors Jayden Hall 1st 200 Free and 100 Butterfly, Michelle Axelson 1st 50 Free and 100 backstroke (both in meet/league records) and Bella Shurley 100 Free.
The boys would make another strong showing led by sophomore XX Rose 1st 100 Breast (meet/league records) and 1st 50 Free, and senior Nolan Morton 2nd 2—IM and 3 rd 100 backstroke and 2nd place team behind Hawaii Prep. The girls and boys combined scores again would crown Kealakehe WaveRiders as BIIF Champions.
But the team was not finished; their training was focused on peaking at States at UH Manoa.
Relays, yes Relays. Michelle Axelson, SoMyong Jeong, Jayden Hall, and Bella Shurley would establish a new school and BIIF record winning the 200 Medley Relay in 1:47.84 in a tie with Kamehameha Kapalama. The 200 relay would place 4th and the 400 relay of Shae’lynn Abran, Jada Keen, Jayden Hall, Bella Shurley also 4 th . Michelle Axelson would win gold in the 50 Free in All-American Consideration time of 23.39, and 100 backstroke in 56.03. The WaveRiders claimed the3 rd place team trophy.
The boys would follow in yes another school record 200 medley Relay 1:39.57, (Nolan Morton, XX Rose, AJ Robertson, Aiden Ankrum) placing 4th and 200 Free relay 1:29.27 (4th XX Rose stunned the stadium crowd by winning the 50 Free (20.92) giving Stone Miller (Iolani) his first and only loss of high school career. But XX was just getting warmed up, he followed with another Gold winning the 100 Breaststroke in 55.23. His time earned XX Rose High School All-American honors. The boys brought home the 5th place team award.
WaveRiders finished the season with 3 new school relay records and placed 1st among all Hawaii public schools. One of the smallest Big Island teams 6 years ago has grown into one of the largest. You could say Kealakehe bought into Coach Willis concept of team and relays.
