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When Grace Monahan landed on Oahu as an 8-year-old, she was already a fish in the water.
She grew up in Virginia, though her family is originally from Philadelphia. To this day, her father, Edward, can bake a killer pretzel. To some extent, those extra carbs helped fuel the record-breaking achievements of the University Lab School scholar-athlete.
“My dad’s homemade soft pretzels are my favorite. Since we’re from the Philly area, he makes them from scratch, once every two or three months. They’re big,” the senior said. “He sometimes gets cheese and melts it. That’s really good.
Dad was a volleyball player. Mom (Stephanie) “played some basketball.”
“They didn’t swim,” said Monahan, who has broken club and high school records almost routinely.
In the state championships in Keaau on March 4-5, she took the 200 intermediate medley (2 minutes, 1.97 seconds) and 100 butterfly (54.90) titles and helped ULS place in the top 12 in the 200 and 400 freestyle relays. The Junior Rainbows, from one of the smallest schools in the state, placed sixth overall.
Her 100 butterfly was a strange experience.
“When I dove in, my goggles filled up with water and I couldn’t see anyone in the entire pool, so I was legitimately racing myself. It happened before, but years ago, like middle school. The last 15 meters I was just trying to finish,” Monahan said.
Monahan has the state record in the 200 IM at 2 minutes, 1.58 seconds, set in 2020. She came close to breaking it at states.
“I was just short. I guess I felt a little crummy. I woke up and I wasn’t feeling it,” Monahan said, referring to a heavy output during the club state championships just one week earlier. “All those meets we did (at club states) were kind of hitting me. I think I did seven individual and five of them were prelims and finals, and five relays.”
That’s a total of 17 races. At the high school state meet, she did two individuals and two relays, the maximum allowed.
“State is the ones we rest for, so expectations are higher. It was hard to get back into pre-pandemic shape, but now I feel like I’m close to it. I feel like I would’ve broken it,” Monahan said.
The little but proud school in Manoa won’t forget her anytime soon.
“She’s one of the most accomplished swimmers in Hawaii high school history. She never lost a race (in the 200 IM and 100 butterfly). She won six ILH titles and six state championships,” ULS athletic director Walt Quitan said.
Monahan committed to North Carolina State in 2020 after a sensational sophomore year. She swims six days per week with Kamehameha Swim Club.
Somehow, she manages to maintain a 3.88 grade-point average.
“Her dedication to her craft, swimming takes a lot of dedication and self-motivation. She is very humble for her level of success and always has a smile on her face,” said Quitan, who taught middle-school physical education at ULS. “She could have been a state champion in track. Her mile times were some of the best we ever had.”
Quitan has been with ULS for decades. He rates Monahan at the heights of many outstanding athletes who were Jr. ‘Bows.
“She’s right at the top. I don’t think we ever had any one individual that dominated their sport like that. We had a high level of team success, but as far as individual, she is as good as any we ever had,” he said. “As far as ULS goes, it has been one of our best years overall in a long time with girls volleyball winning (Division II) states, Pac-Five soccer, we had key players and the most outstanding (D-II) player, and boys intermediate basketball winning at the D-I level.”
None of Monahan’s success surprises her club coach, Kevin Flanagan.
“I first saw Grace swim when she was about 9 years old and I remember thinking that she looked like one of those old wind-up toys that you just crank up and let take off,” Flanagan said. “She had a motor and a tremendous drive at a young age.”
Pac-Five coach Kevin Tanigawa always appreciated Monahan’s spirit.
“She scores a lot of points for us, but she also brings hope to the team. There has never been a relay where regardless of the other team’s lead that I haven’t heard our swimmers say, ‘Grace got this!’ She allowed her team to believe that small programs can be just as competitive as the big ones,” he said. “She’s always been open and honest with her teammates. She’s always willing to show that, despite being on top, she has struggles just like them and that she works hard for her success just like everyone else.”
Monahan was 7 when she began taking swim lessons in Dahlgren, Va.
“It was just a community pool. Then I moved here when I was 8. My dad’s in the Navy, so we were stationed here and there. I do remember that on our way to Hawaii, we were stuck in California for hours because there was a delay,” she said. “My parents were definitely stoked to move here to Hawaii. Who wouldn’t be? But it was stressful, getting the cars across the entire country and the Pacific Ocean.”
She resumed her swimming with the Hickam Hurricanes.
“Something was in me. I wanted to do club swimming, so I was there for a year. The coaches at Hickam were always moving. We wanted something more consistent,” Monahan said.
At Kamehameha Swim Club, it was a struggle.
“I was last place, dead last, but I started training more, setting more goals, and that’s when I started beating them. I think I was 9 or 10. I swam so many weeks,” he recalled. “I still have all my medals in my closet and on display in my room.”
The records began to fall, but her individual feats weren’t quite as thrilling as relay golds.
“That’s my favorite one, breaking relay records. That’s more than yourself. You did that with three of your teammates that (you) train with every day. Those are always fun,” she said.
One that stands out was the 800 free relay with her club teammates Andrea Zeebe, Kai Flanagan and Gigi Hioki.
“We’ve been swimming together for at least seven years,” she said.
Zeebe is another state champion, in the 100 backstroke and 100 freestyle, setting state records in those events for Punahou. Flanagan, also of Punahou, is the 200 and 500 freestyle state champion, and Hioki swims at Sacred Hearts.
“You still cheer them on because you want them to succeed regardless of what team they’re on,” Monahan said.
Swimming for ULS at states is another ultimate lifelong memory. During the regular season, they swim as part of Pac-Five.
“I swam with Naomi (Nakaya), Cara (Egami) and my sister, Mia. It was really cool that we had a relay team in the first place. It’s hard to get four swimmers out of 200 people,” Monahan said, referring to ULS’ enrollment. “”It’s just really fun to swim for our school. We were stoked.”
Her green-and-white cap was going to have its time in the water for a rare ULS relay experience.
“I ripped mine during warmups before prelims,” Monahan said. “So I wore my plain black one.”
ULS’ 200 free relay finished 12th in 1:45.87. Their 400 free relay timed at 3:56.49, good for 11th overall.
All things considered, Monahan is fine with the restriction on events for individual swimmers at the high school state meet.
“I feel like having a limit is good. Then you can get that rest time you need because then coaches would force kids to do all those events. They wouldn’t have as much fun as they (are) focusing on a couple (of individual races),” she said.
ULS was the perfect fit when she arrived in sixth grade.
“It was definitely a lot different. I could do art, play an instrument. I play the trumpet. We’re required to play an instrument from sixth grade to 12th grade in band, orchestra or choir,” Monahan said.
Everyone knows, on a small campus, about their swim champion.
“There’s obviously jokes and sayings about my swimming, but for the most part, I’m still Grace,” she said.
In a few months, Monahan will be on her way to North Carolina State. She chose the Wolfpack over Louisville.
“It definitely was a process that took me a couple of months. I wanted to swim on a team that would push me, where I’m not limiting to anything,” she said. “They’re very family oriented. My parents talked to my coach and felt real good about it. They were able to connect with him easily.”
It will be the first football season away from her family ever. Her father is a diehard Eagles fan, and so is his oldest daughter. The struggle for Eagles supporters has been real, but shared.
“I feel like this year was a rebuild year, so we did really well, but it’s just hard to watch sometimes when they do something stupid,” Monahan said. “It’s a thousand times worse when they lose to the Cowboys. It’s the rivalry. You just want to win it. To me, Cowboy fans are pretty annoying. There’s only a few that are normal people. We’re all Eagles fans at our house.”
When her family bids Grace aloha at the airport in August, it won’t be easy.
“I guess my dad might be the first to cry. My mom is coming with me, so maybe she’ll cry later,” Monahan said. “I feel like they will. I don’t know. We’ll see.”
Nakaya, her ULS relay teammate, has known her since they were 9, 10 years old.
“Yes, I will miss her because she brings a lot of positive energy to the team and she’s a very good leader. Without her there it will definitely make a change,” Nakaya said. “I don’t think I’m ready for her to go. She definitely made an impact on swimming in Hawaii.”
GRACE MONAHAN’S FAVORITES
>> Movies/TV shows: “The Office,” “Demon Slayer,” “The Conjuring.” “I’ve seen all nine seasons of ‘The Office’ several times. Dwight is probably my favorite character. I think he’s the funniest. I have a love-hate relationship with horror movies. I love it, but I hate the jump scares and I have to close my eyes.”
>> Food/snacks: Peanut butter pretzels, sparkling water, Mott’s gummies
>> Music artists: Olivia Rodrigo, Frank Ocean, Twice
>> Teacher: Mr. Moore, Hickam Elementary School. “He was just a great teacher and cared about all of us kids equally. He made class fun. That’s where I learned about robotics. We built these robots out of Lego. I look back and I’m pretty lucky to have a teacher like that.”
>> Funniest teammate: Briscoe Beaton
>> Smartest teammate: Blaise Swartwood. “He’s a Mr. 4.4 (GPA). Whenever I talk about my school, he says, ‘I’m not impressed.’”
>> Teammate most likely to coach one day: Kai Flanagan
>> New life skill: Driving
>> Bucket list: Go to Japan during the Cherry Blossom Festival; surf in California, Florida, North Carolina; go skydiving.
>> Hidden talent: Painting
Source: Star
