SSC sends off Stewart with Summer Classic

Saipan Swim Club head coach Michael Stewart will be leaving the CNMI soon but before he bids the islands goodbye, local swimmers gave him a great send-off last weekend during the 2008 SSC Summer Classic.

“As my last swim event here on island I was happy to see many great swims,” Stewart said in an email to the Saipan Tribune.

A total of eight mixed events were held last Friday and Saturday at the Kan Pacific Swimming Pool with SSC swimmers Grace Kimball, Blair Nichols, and Michael Moran joining Tsunami Swimming Center Saipan’s Rezne Wong as the top performers of the meet.

Kimball made waves in the pool when her 1:05.92 in the 100m freestyle set a new record in the girls’ 12-and-under age group.

Stewart said she also came close to the 200m and 50m freestyle records, missing both by tenths of a second. Kimball also dropped seconds off her personal bests in the 200m freestyle to 2:26.98 and a second faster in the 50m freestyle to 30.68.

Blair, for his part, topped two races—the 50m butterfly and the 50m freestyle. Blair clocked in at 31:16 in the butterfly followed by Tsunami Saipan’s Thea Minor (43.79) and Kaito Yanai (47.16).

The 15-year-old was also the first to touch the tile in the length-of-the pool freestyle in a time of 27.32. Teammate Junior Pamaran was second in 28.07, while Moran was third in 28.55.

Moran, for his part, duplicated Blair’s two victories by topping the 100m freestyle and 50m breaststroke.

The 14-year-old Grace Christian Academy student won the 100m freestyle in 1:05.20, followed by Kimball’s aforementioned 1:05.92 and Andrew Kimball’s 1:20.22.

He also was No. 1 in the 50m breaststroke with his 38.68 with Pamaran and Tsunami Saipan’s Kensuke Kimura next with swims of 39.44 and 40.37, respectively.

Wong, meanwhile, was the biggest winner of the two-day event as the 17-year-old Marianas High School finished first in three events—200m individual medley, 50m backstroke, and 1,500m freestyle.

He swam the 200m IM in 2:20.04, followed by teammate Shin Kimura’s 2:47.78 and Moran’s 2:50.59.

Wong then did the 50m backstroke in 32.20 to beat Shin and Kensuke Kimura, who finished with times of 38.22 and 39.77, respectively.

In the longest swim of the day, Wong showed his mettle by finishing the 1.500m freestyle in 18:28.77 with Shin and Kensuke Kimura coming next with times of 19:40.95 and 19:43.27, respectively.

Other mixed events winners in the 2008 SSC Summer Classic were Tsunami Saipan’s Marystar Welch and SSC’s Sarah Johnson and Lester Lapuz.

Welch topped the 800m freestyle in a time of 11:17.29 with Andrew Kimball of SSC coming in second in a time of 11:45.30. The two were the lone entries of the event.

Johnson, for her part, won the 200m freestyle in a time of 2:24.76 followed by teammates Grace Kimball’s 2:26.98 and Selyna Deleon Guerrero’s 2:38.57.

Lapuz, meanwhile, was lone swimmer in the 400m freestyle and finished it in 5:21.19.

Padraig Harrington of Ireland holds the trophy as he celebrates winning the British Open Golf championship, at the Royal Birkdale golf course, Southport, England, Sunday, July 20, 2008.