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Scott Wood of the Okinawa Dolphins Swim Team swims the boys 15- to 18-year-old 200-meter freestyle during Sunday's American Swim Council in Japan Junior Olympic meet. Wood finished 13th in 2 minutes, 27.13 seconds.

Scott Wood of the Okinawa Dolphins Swim Team swims the boys 15- to 18-year-old 200-meter freestyle during Sunday's American Swim Council in Japan Junior Olympic meet. Wood finished 13th in 2 minutes, 27.13 seconds. (Dave Ornauer / S&S)

Scott Wood of the Okinawa Dolphins Swim Team swims the boys 15- to 18-year-old 200-meter freestyle during Sunday's American Swim Council in Japan Junior Olympic meet. Wood finished 13th in 2 minutes, 27.13 seconds.

Scott Wood of the Okinawa Dolphins Swim Team swims the boys 15- to 18-year-old 200-meter freestyle during Sunday's American Swim Council in Japan Junior Olympic meet. Wood finished 13th in 2 minutes, 27.13 seconds. (Dave Ornauer / S&S)

Charles Lane of the Okinawa Dolphins competes in the boys 15- to 18-year-old 100-meter breaststroke. Lane finished sixth in 1 minute, 14.57 seconds.

Charles Lane of the Okinawa Dolphins competes in the boys 15- to 18-year-old 100-meter breaststroke. Lane finished sixth in 1 minute, 14.57 seconds. (Dave Ornauer / S&S)

Timothy Castillo of the Okinawa Dolphins, on the way to a sixth-place finish in the boys 11- to 12-year-old 200-meter freestyle.

Timothy Castillo of the Okinawa Dolphins, on the way to a sixth-place finish in the boys 11- to 12-year-old 200-meter freestyle. (Dave Ornauer / S&S)

(More local sports results at end of story)

TOKYO — Keila Mitchell appeared as if she could have been knocked over with a feather.

The 10-year-old Yokosuka Seahawk looked with astonishment at the time on the wall of St. Mary’s International School’s 25-meter pool, which read 38.57 seconds after she’d completed the 50-meter backstroke event in the American Swim Council in Japan’s Junior Olympic meet.

“Did I really do that?” was her first reaction. Then, she realized she’d beaten her nearest challenger, Misaki Nakano of Nanko Swim Club, by 1.15 seconds, a rare feat by a Department of Defense swimmer.

“I was surprised,” the 5th-grader from Yokohama’s Negishi Housing Area said. “I didn’t expect to do that well.”

She was one of three gold-medalists among the 97 DOD youth swimmers at the meet, now in its 28th year. Calvin Hensley of the Okinawa Dolphins won three golds — the most by any DOD competitor in six years — while Nicolas McCoy, a Navy dependent swimming for the host International Buccaneers, won a pair.

The meet featured 512 athletes from 15 teams, mostly Japanese club teams and the host Buccaneers who swim year-round, along with five DOD youth clubs including the Seahawks, Atsugi Blue Dolphins, Yokota Stingrays, Okinawa Dolphins and, for the first time in five years, the Misawa Sharks.

“It’s great,” Yokosuka coach Andrea Symak said of Mitchell, who won silver in the 100 backstroke and finished eighth in the girls 9- and 10-year-old high-point standings.

Symak credits Yokosuka’s new Thew Fitness & Sports Complex, which features a 25-meter indoor pool, for all her swimmers’ improvement.

“I can give them better training, and these kids are really into it,” said Symak, in her third year as the Seahawks’ coach. “They want it. They work hard and they have fun. They follow my instruction and do the work.”

“A lot of it is the coach, and because the kids like the coach, they bust their butts in the pool,” said Ed Mitchell, Keila’s father, a retired Navy chief petty officer working at Yokosuka’s Ship Repair Facility. “You can see, they’ve matured quite a bit.”

Hensley’s performance included gold medals in the boys 11- to 12-year-old 100 breaststroke, 50 breaststroke and 100 individual medley. He finished third in his group’s high-point category, and his three golds matched the best performance by an Okinawa swimmer, Juliet Stern, who won three golds in the 2000 meet.

“He had a great meet,” said coach Mat Luebbers, in his ninth year of coaching the Dolphins. His group of 49 swimmers was his largest yet at St. Mary’s, and they came away with the best Junior Olympic finish in team history.

“Business as usual,” said Luebbers. “The kids come here and crank it up. The environment helps. The meet is an exciting one and the kids help out one another. Why they get up at 4 a.m., swim, go to bed at midnight, get up at 4 a.m. again is beyond me, but they do it.”

Invariably, simply due to numbers, the military youth teams tend to be outgunned by their Japanese counterparts, and by the Buccaneers, who entered 103 swimmers and finished second, with 3,627.5 points. The closest any military team came was Okinawa, fifth with 1,582 points.

But it’s not necessarily for the gold, coaches said.

“It’s for the experience, sportsmanship and just learning from watching other swimmers,” said third-year Atsugi coach Reinhold Geist. “They see that with hard work in practice... they can go faster themselves.”

“For the kids who come here, the majority of them have bettered their times, some by as many as six seconds,” said Jere Brewer, one of three Misawa coaches.

He cited 12-year-old Emily Missel, who placed 45th and last in the girls 11- to 12-year-old 50 freestyle ... but lowered her personal best time by five seconds, to 38.75.

“Just that by itself is a benefit,” Brewer said. “She didn’t make an A-category time, but she cut her personal best by five seconds. They’re rising up to the challenge.”

ScoreboardSwimming

American Swim Council in Japan Junior Olympic Meet

At St. Mary’s International School, Tokyo

Final team standings—1, Taiyo Kyoiku Sports Center, 4,067.5; 2, International Buccaneers, 3,627.5; 3, Nanko Swimming School, 3,126.5; 4, T-Fam Swim Team, 2,639.5; 5, Okinawa Dolphins Swim Team, 1,582; 6, Shindaita Swimming School, 996; 7, NSP Swimming School, 933; 8, Kibogaoka Swim Team, 609; 9, Yokosuka Seahawks Swim Team, 528; 10, Nittai Ebara Swim Team, 469; 11, Arai Swimming School, 244; 12, Misawa Sharks, 218; 13, Funabashi Junior High Swim Team, 121; 14, Atsugi Blue Dolphins, 29; 15, Yokota Stingrays, 7.

DOD swimmers Individual high-point standings

Boys 6-8 (high-point winner 117 points)—12, Will D. Coggins, Okinawa, 49.

Girls 6-8 (high-point winner 112½ points)—9, Nicole Hoot, Yokosuka, 66; 11, Rebecca Walton, Yokosuka, 56; 21, Claudia Kearns, Atsugi, 22; 24, Mia Floyd, Yokosuka, 17; 25, Perri F. Nelson, Okinawa, 13; 26, Mary Hagopian, Okinawa, 11; 27, Sydney Manion, Okinawa, 8; 30, Alexandra Cook, Yokosuka, 1.

Boys 9-10 (high-point winner 117 points)—9, Jacob Urbano, Misawa, 52; Charles Collins II, Yokosuka, 32.

Girls 9-10 (high-point winner 109 points)—8, Keila Mitchell, Yokosuka, 75; 14, Salina P. Galeai, Okinawa, 43; 25, Jennifer M. Castillo, Okinawa, 16; 30, Madison B. Jones, Okinawa, 7; 34 (tie), Jerilyn Geist, Atsugi, and D.J. Laureta, Yokota, 1.

Boys 11-12 (high-point winner 111 points)—3, Calvin Hensley, Okinawa, 106 1/2; 16, Timothy E. Castillo, Okinawa, 43; 38, Thomas C. Harrington, Okinawa, 1.

Girls 11-12 (high-point winner 114 points)—8, Alisa Tham, Misawa, 75; 12, Haleigh Jump, Okinawa, 60; 18, Jasmine Flores, Yokosuka, 44; 20, Cara M. Galeai, Okinawa, 40; 38, Briana Murphy-Hudspeth, Atsugi, 6; 42 (tie), Barbara Reichart, Yokosuka, and Chanel Barcenas, Yokota, 4; 45, Avery E. Nelson, Okinawa, 3; 46 (tie), Tally Elbert, Yokota, and Megan Schweers, Okinawa, 2; 49, Diamone Scott, Okinawa, 1.

Boys 13-14 (high-point winner 106 points)—6, Donovan M. Brogan, Okinawa, 89; 11, Kevin Tham, Misawa, 70; 18, Kris S. Wood, Okinawa, 49; 26, Robert Price, Yokosuka, 14.

Girls 13-14 (high-point winner 107 points)—10, Celeste Conrad, Okinawa, 70; 18, Mary Schweers, Okinawa, 51 1/2; 19, Jesse Yamagata, Okinawa, 51; 21, Rachel Hensley, Okinawa, 43; 26, Michelle E. Castillo, Okinawa, 18; 29; Alexandra J. Harrington, Okinawa, 11; 30, Rachel Urbano, Misawa, 10; 31, Rachel Handley, Yokosuka, 8.

Boys 15-18 (high-point winner 110½ points)—9, Charles Lane, Okinawa, 66; 22, Patrick Samuels, Okinawa, 33; 26, Josh R. Wood, Okinawa, 25; 39, Scott S. Wood, Okinawa, 10; 40, Robert L. Coggins, Okinawa, 9.

Girls 15-18 (high-point winner 107 points)—13, Molly Handley, Yokosuka, 55; 14, Stephanie A. Gamboa, Okinawa, 52; 19, Niki M. Kauzlarich, Okinawa, 32; 26 (tie), Taylor Carver, Okinawa, and Kathryn Dittmer, Yokosuka, 16.

DOD individual race winners (all distances in meters)

Girls 9-10 50 backstroke—Keila Mitchell, 10, Yokosuka, 38.57 seconds

Boys 11-12 100 breaststroke—Calvin Hensley, 12, Okinawa, 1 minute, 21.76 seconds

Boys 13-14 100 butterfly—Nicolas McCoy, 14, International Buccaneers, 1:05.9

Boys 11-12 100 individual medley—Calvin Hensley, 12, Okinawa, 1:13.51

Boys 11-12 50 breaststroke—Calvin Hensley, 12, Okinawa, 36.18

Boys 13-14 200 freestyle—Nicolas McCoy, 14, International Buccaneers, 2:11.28

Girls soccer

Saturday

Pusan American 2, Korea International 0

At Camp Hialeah, South Korea

Korea Int’l.....0 0-0

Pusan.....1 1-2

Goal scorers-Pusan American, Tacara Walker 1 (3), Andrea Lee 1 (1). Assist-Pusan American, Kristina Sagstetter 1.

Robert D. Edgren 8, Matthew C. Perry 0

At Iwakuni Marine Corps Air Station, Japan

Edgren 5.....3-8

Perry.....0 0-0

Goal scorers-Robert D. Edgren, Katy Keene 4 (4), Mia Angelella 1 (5), Charlene Underwood 1 *(3), Amber Kers 1 (2), Johanna Six 1 (1). Assists-Robert D. Edgren, Alyssa Rodrigues 1, Amber Kers 1, Mia Angelella 1, Katy Keene 1.

Friday

Pusan American 14, Korea Kent Foreign 0

At Camp Hialeah, South Korea

Kent.....0 0- 0

Pusan.....6 8-14

Goal scorers-Pusan American, Yeojin Niehaus 5 (5), Kristina Bergman 3 (3), Kay Husler 2 (3), Hana Noguchi 2 (2), Tacara Walker 1 (2), Beth Metzger 1 (1).

Robert D. Edgren 8, Matthew C. Perry 0

At Iwakuni Marine Corps Air Station, Japan

Edgren.....5 3-8

Perry.....0 0-0

Goal scorers-Robert D. Edgren, Mia Angelella 4 (4), Charlene Underwood 2 (2), Jade Thrasher 1 (1), Amber Kers 1 (1). Assists-Robert D. Edgren, Katy Keene 2, Audry Haltli 1, Mia Angelella 1, Charlene Underwood 1, Jade Thrasher 1.

Zama American 1, Robert D. Edgren 1

At Iwakuni Marine Corps Air Station, Japan

Edgren.....1 0-1

Zama.....0 1-1

Goal scorers-Robert D. Edgren, Alyssa Rodriguez 1 (1); Zama American, Kate Shicks 1 (2).

Zama American 8, Matthew C. Perry 1

At Iwakuni Marine Corps Air Station, Japan

Zama.....5 3-8

Perry.....0 1-1

Goal scorers-Zama American, Rachel Ravelo 5 (5), Amber Wilder 1 (1), Kate Shicks 1 (1), Sarah Ashby 1 (1). Assists-Zama American, Kate Shicks 2, Amber Wilder 2, Rachel Ravelo 1.

author picture
Dave Ornauer has been employed by or assigned to Stars and Stripes Pacific almost continuously since March 5, 1981. He covers interservice and high school sports at DODEA-Pacific schools and manages the Pacific Storm Tracker.

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