GCA completes All Schools meet sweep

Grace Christian Academy’s Lennosuke Suzuki does the backstroke part of the 200m individual medley race during the 2017 Saipan Swim Club All Schools Swim Meet held last Nov. 18 at the Kan Pacific Swimming Pool. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)

Grace Christian Academy made a historic sweep in the 2017 Saipan Swim Club All Schools Swim Meet as the Eagles’ high school swimmers also ruled their division.

GCA earned 103 points in the high school races of the Nov. 18 competition held at the Kan Pacific Swimming Pool to beat many-time champion Marianas High School (95), Mt. Carmel School (72), and Saipan Southern High School (16). The Eagles earlier topped the elementary and middle school divisions, making GCA the first school to win all the categories in the SSC-organized meet.

Lennosuke Suzuki, Jinju Thompson, Aika Watanabe, Taisha Reyes, Jasmin Frink, Taisha Reyes, and Chener Li swam for GCA’s high school crew to edge Marianas High School’s David Boyer, Mark Maestro, Grace Zhang, Katherine Illahi, Nelson Batallones, and Dominic Yumul.

Thompson and Watanabe gave GCA two first place finishes, while Suzuki duplicated that feat in the men’s side. Thompson prevailed in the 400m freestyle and 200m individual medley swims, while Watanabe and triumphed in the 50m butterfly and 50m backstroke, and Suzuki won the 200m freestyle and 200m IM. First place finishers were awarded with 9 points in the individual swim and 18 in relay, while the runners-up received 7 and 14.

Reyes placed second to Watanabe in the 50m backstroke, while Frink was behind the latter in the 50m freestyle. Chener was No. 2 in the men’s 50m freestyle, which Mt. Carmel’s Jan Millo Matthew won.

In the relay races, GCA was runner-up both in the 200m medley and 200m freestyle after clocking in at 2:28.00 and 2:18.13, respectively. MHS ruled the 200m medley with Zhang, Boyer, Batallones, and Illahi submitting 2:26.55. Mt. Carmel, on the other hand, reigned in the 200m freestyle relay as Milo, Yuuri Fukushi, Christian Villacrusis, and Quina Flores recorded 2:16.15. MHS (2:19.21) and Southern (4:38.41) also raced in the 200m freestyle relay.

Meanwhile, SSC thanked all the participating schools and their teachers/coaches/principals for making the meet possible.

“Congratulations to all the swimmers for their great performances. It was a great meet. I overheard several swimmers, first time participants and veterans, comment on how fun the meet was. That was great to hear. Overall, we had about 110 swimmers, 10 more than last year’s. We also had a large number of first time participants which was great to see,” SSC head coach Jacoby Winkfield said.

“Thank you for all the time and effort you put into preparing your swimmers. Congratulations to GCA for a clean sweep of all divisions and to all the schools for a job well done and for representing your school with pride,” he added.