Whispering Palms keeps tradition in All Schools

 As expected, Whispering Palms had the most entries in the 18th SSC All Schools Swimming Championship held at the Kan Pacific Swimming Pool in Marpi last Saturday.

“We have 32 swimmers and have lots of new ones this year,” coach Jeff Race said in a brief interview with Saipan Tribune.

Whispering Palms is the six-time defending champion in the elementary division of the Saipan Swim Club-sanctioned event and in the past Race has emphasized that the secret behind the school’s success is the students’ active participation every season and the support of their parents.

“Every year, we encourage our students to represent the school well in this tournament,” Race said.

The strong Whispering Palms swim team is composed of Maria Gregoire, Kaden Church, You Sun Lee, Sam Ryu, Negahr Rastguiy, Gabrielle Race, Miale Aldrich, Jesse Leon Guerrero, Steven and Mylan Goodwin, Naoki Kasai, Cole Chambers, Ellie Epley, Sun Bin Cho, Bella Loan, Shea Hartig, Dominic Zedde, Jon and Gillian Villagomez, Hannah Lyn Nelson, Melanie Choe, Arman Khorram, Eugene Park, Justin and Chloe Kosack, Amon McGuire, Blake and Logan Mister, Zion Okano, Rachel Kwon, Amber Montegengro, Sally Lai, and Jin Ju Thompson.

The Whispering Palms swimmers competed in the mixed U12 and U10 200m freestyle, U12 50m butterfly, U9 50m freestyle, 10 to 12 50m freestyle, U19 50m breaststroke, 10 to 12 50m breaststroke, U12 100m freestyle, and the U12 medley relay.

Final results of the races have yet to be released, but SSC was scheduled to select the Top 3 schools in the elementary, high school, and junior high school divisions. The Top 3 schools in each category will be determined via point systems. Participating schools received points based on how their swimmers finished in the race. SSC was also set to honor the Top 3 finishers in each race.

Besides Whispering Palms, other schools that joined the weekend event were 2010 junior high champion Saipan Community School, 2010 high school winner Saipan Southern High School, Saipan International School, Grace Christian Academy, Mt Carmel School, Hopwood Junior High, Chacha Junior High, Garapan Elementary School, San Vicente, Dandan, Kagman, and Gregorio T. Camacho.

More than 100 swimmers joined this year’s All Schools competition, which featured over 30 events.