Several tankers succeed in Guam

Eight of the CNMI’s top tankers went to Guam over the weekend as the Saipan Swim Club competed in the November Guam All Islands Invitational meet to get a feel for their current state of conditioning.

SSC head coach Michael Stewart said that he planned to bring the team to Guam in order to give his team a taste of competition early in the season by using the meet as a benchmark for the SSC’s training regimen and left pleasantly surprised.

“To be honest I expected good swims from the guys; however, what I got were some outstanding times for this time of the year. In the beginning of the season meets I expected the kids to be a bit flat, but competitive. We were in no way flat; these guys were in mid-season form right from the very start,” he said.

Fifteen-year-old Rezne Wong recorded lifetime best times in two out of his three events with an 11-second drop in his 400m Freestyle to 4:42 from 4:53 and a two-second drop in the 200m Freestyle to 2:11 from 2:13.

Teammate Cooper Graf was a perfect 3-for-3 between the lane lines as the youngster posted lifetime bests in the 400m Freestyle (5:12), 200m Freestyle (2:29), and 50m Freestyle (32.8).

Four of the girls performed at the top of the charts as well as Jellian Majors, Ashley Northen, Opal Northen, and Sarah Johnson performed admirably in the Guamanian tank.

Eleven-year-old Majors came within a half-second from breaking Myana Welch’s national age group record in the 50m Freestyle with a time of 30.8 and was just two seconds shy of the record in the 100m Freestyle with an equally impressive time of 1:09.8.

Ashley Northen also posted lifetime bests in Guam with a second-second drop in the 50m Freestyle (42.8), a five-second drop in the 100m Freestyle (1:38), and a one-second improvement in the 200m Freestyle (3:39).

Her sister Opal trimmed time off of her best 50m Freestyle (45.0) but blew away her previous record in the 200m Freestyle by a half-minute with a time of 3:53, while Johnson nipped her previous best in the 50m Freestyle by .3 seconds with a time 31.1 in spite of recovering from surgery just three weeks ago.

The Kimura brothers performed well despite suffering from flu-like symptoms as Stewart said that Kensuke and Shin were on target to hit their top times in all of their heats. “Conditioning wise [Kensuke and Shin] are strong, however it was a weekend of illness. I am sure they will be back strong in the December International Meet in Guam. Overall, I could not be more pleased with our kid’s performances. It is our first true competition, and our kids are swimming well above expectations for this time of the year. I am really looking forward to the Guam International Invitational. I really expect these guys and gals to swim great,” he said.

The Guam International Invitational next month on Dec 27 and Dec. 28 but that won’t be the last time for the local swimmers get a good look at their competition.

While the hometown swimmers performed well against Guam, a select few of them will be teaming up with their southern neighbors as Stewart and Guam’s Tsunami Swim Club coach Toshi Iijima are putting together and team of all-star tankers.

Dubbed the Marianas All Star Team or MAST, Stewart and Iijima plan to take the squad to a pair of high-caliber meets in Tokyo Japan between June 27 and July 10 in order to create a unique swimming experience of international competition for all of the athletes.

According to Stewart, only four of the Saipan swimmers have qualified for the trip to Japan Trip as Rezne Wong, Kensuke Kimura, Jellian Majors, and Sarah Johnson hit their marks this early into the season.