Maui High School senior Karissa Ginoza watched her freshman teammate, Aika Swanson, battle through sore shoulders to a pair of impressive finishes at the K. Mark Takai/HHSAA state swimming and diving championships on Saturday.

Ginoza took it to heart.

After Swanson rolled to lifetime bests in the 200- and 500-yard freestyles, finishing second and third, respectively, Ginoza went out and swam a lifetime best in her final high school individual race, finishing second in the 100 backstroke at the University of Hawaii’s Duke Kahanamoku Aquatic Complex.

“It was so awesome to watch Aika,” Ginoza said via phone from Oahu. “I’ve been getting super close to her over the past few years. So, just seeing her do so well at such a young age, I’m excited to pass the team down to her and watch her throughout the next three years just kill all of her opponents.”

Then, for good measure, the Sabers pair led the school’s 4×100 freestyle relay to third place in the final girls event of the day. Swanson led off the relay, while Kaysa Ong and Charie Salacup swam the second and third legs.

Ginoza anchored the Sabers’ foursome and said, “Just seeing the smiles on my teammates’ faces as I touched the wall for third was just really awesome.”

Earlier, Ginoza was fourth in the 100 butterfly — her 57.83-second time in the 100 fly and 57.34 in the back were both lifetime bests.

Her time in the backstroke was also a qualifier for the national-level Futures Championships, the first time she has met such a standard.

“I think I surprised myself more in the 100 backstroke just because I have been training really hard in the butterfly and I’ve been posting times that I’m proud of at practice, but for the backstroke I’ve just been stuck at that 58(-second) barrier and being able to dip so low under 58 today just in that one swim was really exciting,” Ginoza said. “It’s a time I’ve been working for, I’d say, for the past two or three years, so when I touched the wall and I saw it on the clock I was ecstatic.”

Swanson captured the best overall individual finishes collectively for the Maui Interscholastic League with her pair of medals in the freestyle distance races. Her 1:53.48 in the 200 and 5:05.46 in the 500 were both personal bests.

“Honestly, yeah, I did kind of surprise myself,” Swanson said. “I was really happy with my times. … For the 200, I really did actually want 53, so I was really happy with the time. In the 500, I really just wanted to race and focus on racing the people next to me and, yeah, I was still really happy with my time.”

Like Ginoza, Swanson relished the opportunity to watch her teammate shine.

“That was really fun, me and a couple of other girls, we were all cheering for her, the second she touched that wall and we saw her time — I was jumping really high and I was just really excited for her,” Swanson said.

Swanson, Ginoza and the relay added up to 19 points, which placed the Sabers fifth in the girls team standings.

Maui Prep’s Noah Caiserman was third in the boys 100 butterfly in 52.18, just off his lifetime best of 51.96. The sophomore was also fifth in the 100 back in 54.82.

“It was a pretty fun experience, going into it I was … I guess you could you could call them low expectations for the race, so to see me come out as third was pretty nice,” Caiserman said. “But I know I could have gone faster, which is the thing that kind of sucks.”

Caiserman said the result in the fly will drive him forward.

“I’m definitely going to focus on the fly more and get that technique down so maybe focus on the 100 fly and that back half of the race, so I can be less tired,” he said. “I got tired in that race. … I can’t be mad about the race.”

The MIL swimmers all root for each other when it comes to the state meet.

“I was born and raised on Maui, so I just love being able to represent Maui,” Caiserman said.

King Kekaulike had a pair of bronze medalists — junior Reese Williams in the boys 100 free (48.20) and junior Lily Barrett in girls 1-meter diving.

Williams was also fourth in the 100 backstroke (54.20).

“Happy with it, but next year I’m going to go for first,” Williams said. “It motivates me to work out more — next year I’m going to get some golds.”

Williams said the best part of the day was the camaraderie among the MIL competitors.

“That was really fun, I was really happy being from Maui,” he said. “All the Maui kids were sitting in the same stands and stuff, so we were all cheering when we saw a Maui person.”

Barrett was leading the girls diving standings until the final of three sessions that include the final three of 11 dives.

“I went in seeded second, so I was hoping for first,” Barrett said. “I was seeded first up until the last day, but one bad dive. I’m going for first next year. I’ve just got to practice more, work on my dives, be more consistent.”

Barrett was grateful to her coaches — Dr. Dennis Rowe, Naomi Mark and Scott Pinter.

“I have incredible coaches who worked so hard with me this year,” Barrett said. “I really, really hope to just keep being able to work with them.”

Other MIL swimmers to score at the state meet with top-five finishes included Maui Prep’s Sacha Salem, who was fifth in the girls 200 free and fourth in the 500, and Seabury Hall’s Helena Colletta, who was fifth in the girls 500.

* Robert Collias is at rcollias@mauinews.com.