GCA swimmers dominate

Grace Christian Academy’s Ashley Dangol races in the 50m butterfly event during the 2017 Saipan Swim Club All Schools Swim Meet held last Saturday at the Kan Pacific Swimming Pool. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)

Grace Christian Academy was the runaway winner of the middle school division championship in the 2017 Saipan Swim Club All Schools Swim Meet held last Saturday at the Kan Pacific Swimming Pool.

Anthony Camacho-Deleon Guerrero, Kean Pajarillaga, Jinie Thompson, Lamar Soleil, Ashley Dangol, Hans Xu, Julia Jinang, Andrew Nunez, Akira Kadokura, Susana and Nieves Villagomez, Erin Frink, and Seung Ha swam for the Eagles and gave their school 167 points from the 20 individual and relay races in their division. GCA led by 50 points against runner-up Tanapag Middle School (111) and was way ahead versus three other teams—Saipan Community School (25 points), Hopwood Middle School (25), and Mt. Carmel School (7).

In the individual events, Kadokura and Dangol delivered two first place finishes each for GCA for a total of 36 points. Kadokura won the boys 10 to 13’s 50m breaststroke (41.55 seconds) and 100m breaststroke (1:39.03). Dangol, on the other hand, topped the girls 11 to 13’s 100m freestyle (1:09.35) and 50m butterfly (32.94 seconds).

Other GCA swimmers who recorded first place finishes were Thompson (200m freestyle/3:03.41), Susana (50m freestyle/39.18 second), Camacho-Deleon Guerrero (50m butterfly/34.51 seconds), and Xu (100m freestyle/1:11.27). Thompson added a runner-up performance in the 100m freestyle (1:24.32), while Ha had the same feats in the 50m butterfly (53.49 seconds) and 50m backstroke (55.97 seconds). Frink and Jinang also earned runner-up honors in the 50m freestyle (42.60 seconds) and 200m freestyle (3:24.86), respectively.

In the relay races, the Eagles were runners-up in the 200m medley (2:59.81) and 200m freestyle (2:14.08) to get 28 points.

In other results, Nanaka Watanabe, Jinnosuke Suzuki, and Juhn Tenorio registered two first places finishes each for Tanapag and also lifted their school to victories in the two relay races.

Watanabe ruled the 50m breaststroke (39.93 seconds) and 100m breaststroke (1:28.16); Suzuki prevailed in the 400m freestyle (4:51.29) and 200m freestyle (2:13.45); and Tenorio won the 50m backstroke (33.11 seconds) and 100m backstroke (1:12.44).

The trio then teamed up with Taiyo Akimaru in handing Tanapag the No. 1 finish in both the 200m medley relay (2:18.43) and 200m freestyle relay (2:03.83).

In the 100m butterfly, SCS’ Isaiah Aleksenko won over Akimaru after recording 1:11.42 against the latter’s 1:28.29. The SCS swimmer also topped the 50m freestyle (30.40 seconds), beating another Tanapag bet in Leo Takahashi, who clocked in at 34.24 seconds.

Duplicating Aleksenko’s pair of wins was Hopwood’s Ayumi Obligacion, who raced in the 50m backstroke (42.35 seconds) to place ahead of two other swimmers and 100m backstroke (1:34.60).