Tsunami Saipan dominates virtual meet

Tsunami Saipan Swimming Center nearly swept the top honors in the All Tsunami Challenge held late month.

The All Tsunami Challenge was a virtual meet between Tsunami Guam and Tsunami Saipan swimmers with the latter notching eight of the 10 first place finishes in the monthly event. Getting top honors for Tsunami Saipan were U8’s Kenshiro Yanai and Ashley Dangol, 9 to 10’s Ryuto Yanai and Sophia Gauran, 11 to 12’s Hiroto Yanai and Miku Tammy, and 13 to 14’s Kaito Yanai and Angel De Jesus.

Kenshiro Yanai led Tsunami Saipan’s Top 3 finish in the boys U8 after posting the fastest times in four of the five events in last month’s competition. Yanai clocked in at 1:24.00 in the 100m freestyle to beat eventual runner-up Hans Xu and third placer Anthony De Leon Guerrero and five others. In the 50m freestyle, Kenshiro’s field best time read 36.39 seconds, while he recorded 54.10 seconds and 43.63 seconds in the 50m breaststroke and 50m butterfly, respectively. Xu foiled Kenshiro’s first place sweep when he logged 48.94 seconds in the 50m backstroke against the 52.62 seconds of the latter.

In the girls U18, Dangol prevailed against fellow Tsunami Saipan swimmer Nanaka Watanabe and Guam’s Risa Hendrix. Dangol topped the 100m freestyle (1:39.77), finished second in the 50m butterfly (1:09.07) and 50m freestyle (45,96 seconds), fourth in 50m backstroke (58.26 seconds), and seventh in the 50m breaststroke (1:15.32)
In the 9 to 10 age group, Ryuto Yanai and Gauran both edged Tsunami Guam swimmers for the top spot. Ryuto won over Masami Aricayos, and was joined by teammate Juhn Tenorio in the Top 3. Gauran defeated Roxanne Mikel and fellow Tsunami Saipan bet Aika Watanabe.

Ryuto took first place in all five events, timing in at 1:11.12 in the 100m freestyle, 34.90 seconds in the 50m butterfly, 45.37 seconds in breaststroke, 41.18 seconds in 50m backstroke, and 31.28 seconds in the 50m freestyle. Gauran nearly duplicated Ryuto’s feat, winning four of the five events. She had the fastest times in the 100m freestyle (1:20.10), 50m freestyle (36.98 seconds), 50m backstroke (44.89 seconds), and 50m backstroke (51.33 seconds), and third-best mark in 50m butterfly (46.38 seconds). Mikel ruled the butterfly race after submitting 40.04 seconds, while her teammate Ivory Howat came in at second after tallying 45.04 seconds.

Hiroto Yanai swept all five events in the boys 11 to 12 to down Guam’s Jimi Hendrix and teammate Mark Maestro. Hiroto clocked in at 1:06.86 in the 100m freestyle, 30.06 seconds in the 50m freestyle, 37.10 seconds in the 50m backstroke, 43.03 in the 50m breaststroke, and 34.32 seconds in the 50m butterfly.

Tammy missed a sweep, but her four first place finishes were enough to put her on top of the girls 11 to 12 age group, ahead of Guam’s Samantha Hon and Leilani Koiwa. Tammy ruled the 100m freestyle (1:08.59), 50m freestyle (31.28 seconds), 50m backstroke (36.11 seconds), and 50m butterfly (33.04 seconds) and placed fourth in the 50m breaststroke (45.55 seconds) behind Hon (43.09 seconds), Reina Ross (43.99 seconds) and Ayaka Lin (44.06 seconds).

The Yanais completed their domination in the virtual meet with oldest brother Kaito prevailing in the boys 13 to 14 age group against Guam’s Seven Jeong and Sean Park. Kaito went 5-for-5 in last month’s competition, registering the field’s best times in the 100m freestyle (1:03.66), 50m butterfly (30.01 seconds), 50m breaststroke (34.87 seconds), 50m backstroke (33.21 seconds), and 50m freestyle (28.37 seconds).

In the girls 13 to 14 age group, De Jesus won three events to pull off an upset over Angel Marie Tan. Joining the two Tsunami Saipan swimmers in the Top 3 was Guam’s Hannah White. De Jesus prevailed in the 50m butterfly after clocking in at 34.01 seconds and also finished first in the 100m freestyle (1:07.52) and 50m freestyle (30.98 seconds). Tan saved first place in the 50m backstroke (35.10 seconds) and 50m breaststroke (39.06 seconds).

Meanwhile, Tsunami Guam topped the over 15 age group with Stephen Jagger winning in the boys division and Misaki Iijima reigning supreme in the girls division. Tsunami Saipan’s Kensuke Kimura settled for runner-up honors in the boys division, placing ahead of Tsunami Guam’s Soujyu Osui.

The virtual meet between Tsunami Saipan and Tsunami Guam swimmers will be held every month to help members of the club improve their times, according to Tsunami Saipan head coach Hiro Kimura.