Tanapag Middle School wins

Lennosuke Suzuki, seen here making a turn for the backstroke leg of the 200m individual medley, swam for Tanapag Middle School during the 22nd Saipan Swim Club All Schools Swim Meet held early this month at the Kan Pacific Swimming Pool.
(Roselyn B. Monroyo)

Tanapag Middle School ruled its division contest in the 22nd Saipan Swim Club All Schools Swim Meet held early this month at the Kan Pacific Swimming Pool.

Tanapag scored 186 points—the second most in the entire field of the meet behind Brilliant Stars’ 216—to top the middle school category and beat Whispering Palms (90 points) and Hopwood Junior High School (76 points). Grace Christian Academy, Saipan Community School, and Dandan Middle School also joined the Nov. 12 competition and were ranked fourth, fifth, and sixth in the division after gaining 63, 25, and 15 points, respectively.

The middle school champion banked on brothers Lennosuke and Jinnosuke Suzuki, siblings Leo and Rinto Takahashi and Richard and Susana Villagomez, Jimmy Marquez, Juhn Tenorio, and Aika Watanabe to prevail against five other schools.

Tenorio, Watanabe, Rinto, and Lennosuke teamed up in the mixed 200m medley relay and timed in at 2:21.24 to down GCA’s Claire Marzan, Jin Ju Thompson, Sam Ryu, and Edward Kim, who clocked in at 3:35.24. The same quartet also won the mixed 200m freestyle relay over Whispering Palms after submitting 2:27.73 against the latter’s 4:12.57.

In the individual races, Jinnosuke was unchallenged in the 11 to 12’s 200m and 400m freestyle. Lennosuke had the same good fate in the over 13’s 200m free and 200m IM, Susana in the girls 11 to 12’s 50m breaststroke, and Leo in the boys 11 to 12’s 50m breaststroke, and Rinto in the over 11’s 100m breaststroke.

In other results, Tenorio won his two individual races. He logged 35.36 seconds in the over 13’s 50m backstroke to top Richard (45.83), Hopwood’s Dan Illahi (53.21), and Whispering Palms’ Dan Weaver (1:14.07). In the 100m backstroke, Tenorio completed the two-lap race in 1:17.85 to defeat Dane Hodges (3:28.14).

Villagomez had a first place finish in the 50m freestyle (34.38 seconds), downing Leo (36.39 seconds), Whispering Palms’ Zion Okano (51.98), SCS’ Derrick Seo (55.05), and Weaver (55.97 seconds). Richard’s younger sister Susana also did the 50m freestyle and posted 42.64 to place ahead of SCS’ Chloe Seo (1:09.67) and Katie Choi (1:13.52).

In the 50m butterfly, Watanabe’s 35.92 seconds edged the 37.75 of Jin Ju Thompson, while Marquez’s 1:14.13 was runner-up to the 32.80 seconds of Hopwood’s Nelson Batallones. Leo also placed second in the 100m freestyle with his 1:15.17 beating the 1:21.29 of Joseph Zhang of Dandan and behind the 1:06.55 of Batallones.

Tanapag’s nine students were among the 105 swimmers who joined the All Schools meet.

“We had great numbers and we hope this event will inspire others to try out the sport of swimming. The CNMI has a rich history of great swimmers and this is where most got their start. Thank you for being a part of this history,” said SSC head coach Jacoby Winkfield.