Tsunami Saipan-hosted meet draws over 20 swimmers

 Over 20 swimmers competed in Tsunami Saipan-organized All Island Invitational 1 last Saturday at the Kan Pacific Swimming Pool  in Marpi.

The one-hour event, which was the first of the three small meets Tsunami Saipan is hosting this year, featured eight official events  and lured swimmers from the host group and the Saipan Swim Club.

The weekend competition started with the longest race of the day-the 800m freestyle event-with three swimmers completing the 16-lap swim. Kensuke Kimura was the first to touch the wall at the 9:12.98 en route to posting a new CNMI age group mark in the boys 15 to 16 division. Next to finish the lung-busting race was SSC’s Kento Akimura, who timed in at 10:29.01. Kimura’s teammate, Miku Tammy, came in at third at the 11:49.95 mark and also set a new CNMI age group record in the girls 9 to 10.

Three different swimmers plunged into the pool next for the 400m freestyle event with 13-year-old Victoria Chentsova of SSC finishing the race at the 5:11.97, ahead of Tsunami Saipan’s Hiroto Yanai (5:32.95) and Ryosei Toda (5:38.99).

The third event of the day was the 200m butterfly, which drew two entries-Tsunami Saipan’s Angel Marie Tan and Takumi Sugie. Tan submitted 3:01.62, more than five seconds faster than Takumi’s 3:06.84.

Shigeki Tenorio and Kaito Yanai were the seventh and eighth Tsunami Saipan swimmer to race in the weekend event, competing in the 200m breaststroke. Tenorio went on to record the fastest time in the heat with his 2:39.43, while Kaito Yanai logged 2:51.79. SSC’s Naoki Kasai was also in the small group and timed in a 3:56.29.

Meet organizers then went back to the freestyle event and this time the 200m race had two heats with three swimmers competing in each group. Tsunami Saipan’s Karen Irinaka topped the first group with her 3:43.45, followed by teammates Kenshiro Yanai (3:44.41) and Juhn Tenorio (3:55.47). In Heat 2, Marvin Lee clocked in at 2:42.85, ahead of Daime Rivera (3:06.12) and Quina Flores (3:07.61).

Daime’s younger sister, Kyona, also joined the meet, racing in the 200m individual medley and timing in at 3:47.54. SSC’s Lennosuke Suzuki completed the race first with his time of 3:29.70, followed by teammate Taiga Sato (3:40.97).

A few minutes after his first race, Suzuki returned to the starting block for the 100m butterfly and was joined by Tsunami Saipan’s Ryuto Yanai and Tammy. Ryuto Yanai ruled the heat with his 1:22.17, while Tammy and Suzuki posted 1:36.55 and 1:52.79, respectively.

The 100m backstroke was the last official event of the day and it had two heats. Tsunami Saipan’s Heongjoo Yoo was on Heat 1 and also ruled his group after timing in at 1:47.82. Sato came in next at the 1:48.91, followed by Minseok Yoo (1:55.03). Heat 2 was for faster swimmers with Tsunami Saipan’s Lukas Kang making a new age group record in the boys 9 to 10 (1:21.96) and beating Chentsova (1:22.47) and teammate Angel De Jesus (1:30.95).

Meanwhile, the small meet concluded with exhibition races in the 50m freestyle. Shigeki Tenorio recorded the fastest time (unofficial) among the 23 Tsunami Saipan swimmers who did the short race with his 28.46 seconds. Sugie came in next at the 30-second mark, followed by Kaito Yanai (31.09 seconds), Lee (32.03 seconds), Hiroto Yanai (32.76 seconds), Ryuto Yanai (33.03 seconds), Tan (33.12 seconds), Toda (34.63 seconds), Kang (35:05 seconds), Daime Rivera (35:37 seconds), Heongjoo Yoo (35.65 seconds), Tammy (36.02 seconds), De Jesus (36.47 seconds), Flores (36.80 seconds), Hwan (38.57 seconds), Minseok Yoo (39.63 seconds), Kyona Rivera (40.34 seconds), Irinaka (45.23 seconds), Kenshiro Yanai (48.25 seconds), and Juhn Tenorio (49.47 seconds).

The Northern Marianas Swimming Federation sanctioned the eight official events in the first Tsunami Saipan-hosted meet and two more small competitions will take place in the next three months to help CNMI swimmers update their times and eventually break records. Tsunami Saipan is also using the meets to help its swimmers achieve qualifying times for future off-island events. The last two events will be held on Feb. 18 and April 28.