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The Maui News 2022 MIL Swimming and Diving All-Stars

Colletta, Ward, McNabb honored

By Dakota Grossman 6 min read

Seabury Hall junior Helena Colletta has been swimming competitively since she was 9 years old, falling in love with the sport for the camaraderie, competition and companionship.

Seven years later, Colletta became the Maui Interscholastic League champion in both the 200-yard individual medley and 500 freestyle; picked up runner-up and third-place finishes at the K. Mark Takai/HHSAA Swimming and Diving State Championships in 500 and 200 frees, respectively; and now most recently, named the 2022 MIL Girl Swimmer of the Year.

She joins co-MIL Boys Swimmers of the Year Kama Ward of Molokai and Carl Vincent McNabb of Baldwin as recipients for the league's top honor, as decided by the MIL coaches.

"I just love every aspect. It's great exercise, it's so fun-- I love competing-- and getting to improve times and just, like, that whole energy that comes with it," Colletta said last week via phone. "I also just love my teammates and the friendships I have with swimming and all my friends on my team. ... Especially now that we travel more, that's a huge part of it because it's really fun to go to different places and compete, meet a bunch of new people and get to swim against them."

Colletta grew up trying other sports, but being in the pool is where she felt most comfortable.

"Swimming is definitely a huge part of my life, like, I swim every day after school and a lot on the weekends if we have meets or morning practices so it's definitely a huge part and something I really enjoy and have enjoyed since I started doing it," she said.

At the state championships in Hilo, the junior said she dropped times in both her events and enjoyed traveling with the team.

"It was really nice to travel with my teammates to the Big Island and compete at states, I think that was definitely a highlight-- just team bonding and being able to share those experiences with them," she said. "The competition was really good; it was really nice to be back competing with everyone because we missed a season (because of the pandemic). It was a blast."

Colletta is joined on the girls first team by Seabury teammate Kalla Pellettieri, King Kekaulike's Li'a Vanderpoel and diver Kewen Imlay, Baldwin's Keanna Campbell, Maui High's Karissa Ginoza and Mari Yamamoto, St. Anthony's Maria King and Maui Prep's Mia Merrill.

Ward and McNabb are joined on the boys first team by Maui High's Patrick Garduque and Connor Gunderson, Molokai's Mauli Pupuhi, Lahainaluna's Maison Alexander, Kamehameha Maui's Ryan Wise, and King Kekaulike's TJ Barrett and diver Luke Berrigan.

After a successful string of regular-season meets, Ward won both the 50 and 100 frees at the MIL championships, the first wins for the Farmers since Kaeo Ross won the 50 free in 2016.

He continued to make history for the program with second- and third-place finishes in the 100 and 50, respectively, at the state championships -- only one Farmer male swimmer had ever made a state final: Lenn Yonemura, who placed eighth in the 500 free in 1998 and sixth in the 100 breaststroke in 2000.

"He showed great sportsmanship to everyone out there and put it all out there for his senior year and really made a statement for our island," Molokai coach Amanda Labriola said of Ward. "I think it's definitely an inspiration to the kids who are coming up and also for the kids who are on the team now."

Often found fishing or working at his family's store Mana'e Goods & Grindz -- the only store out on the east side of Molokai -- Ward said that he never imagined making program history in swimming.

Labriola, however, said "I think he's always had extreme potential" since his freshman year.

"He's very shy but I think as the years went on, he took more of a leadership role even if that's from a quieter standpoint -- he set a great example for his teammates and for his school," she said. "I think with a year off, he came back and swam the best he could and he's only a swimmer that swims during the high school season, so he doesn't swim year-round, so I think he really made a statement."

The humble and quiet swimmer said he'll miss high school swimming and concluded by saying, "I would like to thank my parents and my coaches, especially Amanda."

"I think the season was great," Ward added.

Following top performances at the MIL and state championships, Baldwin senior McNabb also took a moment to thank his teammates, families and coaches for their support throughout his career.

"I just want to thank my coaches Arielle (Obrero), coach Reid (Yamamoto), coach Shino (Lauren Shinozuka), and my teammates for everything and all the great moments and for helping out for the three years," McNabb said.

He topped off his senior season as the MIL champion in the 200 individual medley and two-time champion in the 100 backstroke. In Hilo, he finished fourth and third in the state, respectively, in the same events.

"It was awesome, I really worked hard for that," he said. "There were a lot of ups and downs but I got through it."

Some of the ups from his high school career was the team bonding experience, he said, like "when we went to states, we'd eat dinner together and talk and create memories together."

As he bids farewell, McNabb advises new teammates, or old, to "just keep going."

"There's going to be a lot of ups and downs in all the sports, so just keep going," he added. "No feeling is final -- there's going to be good moments and bad moments. Just let everything happen and keep going."

Up next, McNabb plans to compete in collegiately but is still deciding between Division II and III schools in California and Washington, and even as far as New York.

"I like to try new things and explore new things," he said.

* Dakota Grossman is at dgrossman@mauinews.com.

Second Team

Girls--Kihei Charter: Summer Coronesi; Maui High: Charie Salacup; Maui Prep: Yuna Lee; Seabury Hall: Tulip Hori. Boys--Baldwin: Andrew Alonso, Ken Yamashiro; King Kekaulike: Coby Kaplan; Lahainaluna: Jake McGill; Maui High: Niji Wada, Quincey Augustine; Maui Prep: Legend Storer, Noah Caiserman.

Honorable Mention

Girls--Baldwin: Lexie Castillo, Ava Castillo, Mikela DeAguiar, Kylee Takeda; Kihei Charter: Sundi King; King Kekaulike: Lily Barrett; Maui High: Tea Jimenez, Kaysa Ong, Kyra Ong; Maui Prep: Zoe Gonzalez, Danna Hernandez; Molokai: Meredith Go. Boys--Baldwin: Matt Takakura; King Kekaulike: Reese Williams; Lahainaluna: Maxx Cherry, Ryunosuke Hattori, Jacob Gorokhovsky; Maui Prep: Carter Bozich, Renner Chumley.

Starting at /week.