PBT rush in 50m backstroke in NMISF meet

A Tsunami Saipan swimmer competes in the 50m backstroke event during last Saturday’s Northern Mariana Islands Swimming Federation Opening Meet at the Kan Pacific Swimming Pool in Marpi. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)

Second of a series

Twelve swimmers produced personal best times in the 50mbackstroke event in the Northern Mariana Islands Swimming Federation Opening Meet held last Saturday at the Kan Pacific Swimming Pool in Marpi.

Tsunami Swimming Center Saipan’s Juhn Tenorio, who joined Heat 3 of the event, finished the sprint the fastest with his 35.38 seconds. His time last weekend surpassed his previous PBT of 36.96 seconds. Tenorio raced for the boys 11 to 12 age group, which had one more PBT getter in Saipan Swim Club’s Richard Villagomez. The 12-year-old swimmer clocked in at 48.25 seconds, more than second ahead of his old PBT of 49.96 seconds.

In the girls 9 to 10 division, three earned PBTs. Savita Sikkel of SSC was the first one after completing the one-lap race in 53.65 seconds (her old PBT was 54.01 seconds), while her teammate Nieves Villagomez also marked a PBT after submitting 1:01.09 (from 1:04.72). Tsunami Saipan’s Julia Jinang was the third swimmer to get a PBT in the age group with her 1:10.95, chopping off more than 13 seconds from her previous PBT (1:23.53). Jinie Thompson ruled the age group after touching the wall in 48.11 seconds.

Other PBT getters in the 50m backstroke were Saipan Swim Club’s Susana Vilagomez (1:00.58) and Moshe Sikkel (1:04.20) and Tsunami Saipan’s Aika Watanabe (38.09 seconds), Tellei Rechucher (1:11.53), Hans Xu (49.47 seconds), Kean Pajarillaga (1:01.75), and Kevin Guerrero (1:02.19).

In another sprint event—the 50m butterfly—Ashley Dangol won the girls 9 to 10 age group and also registered a PBT. Her 34.17 seconds eclipsed her old PBT of 35.29 seconds and defeated the 50.30 seconds and 52.04 seconds of fellow PBT getters Andrei Kaith Lynn Chavez of SSC and Shoko Litulumar of Tsunami Saipan, respectively.

Four more Tsunami Saipan swimmers marked PBTs in the 50m butterfly with Nelson Batallones logging the fastest time (32.66 seconds) and Aasish Dangol (39.47 seconds), Kouki Watanabe (55.57 seconds), and Maria Batallones (51.03 seconds) joining the short list.

Rinto Takahashi of SSC rounded out the roster of swimmers who posted PBTs in the 50m butterfly after clocking in at 36.48 seconds, more than a second faster than his old PBT (37.54 seconds).

In the longest race of the day—the 400m freestyle—only two joined the event and both Jin Ju Thompson and Akira Kadokura of SSC ended up with PBTs. The 13-year-old Thompson broke the six-minute mark as she complete the eight-lap event in 5:45.01, more than 18 seconds better than her previous PBT (6:03.48). Kadokura, on the other hand, registered 7:02.78, eclipsing his seed time of 7:32.72.

There were also two entries in the 200m butterfly event with Tsunami Saipan’s Ashley Dangol and Nelson Batallones marking PBTs of 2:56.73 (from 3:04.25) and 2:44.96 (from 3:10.90), respectively.

Nelson’s sister, Maria, had one of the six PBTs in the 100m breaststroke after the latter timed in at 1:54.31 (2:01.32). Siblings Shoko and Asaka Litulumar also earned PBTs after checking in at 1:55.66 and 1:43.55 seconds, respectively, while two more Tsunami Saipan bets had the same feat with Arman Rechucher submitting 1:51.76 and Joseph Zhang recording 1:50.84.

Christian Villacrusis was the lone SSC member to mark a PBT in the 100m breaststroke, but was the fastest in the field with his 1:21.57. He broke his old record of 1:21.86.