Tsunami Saipan swimmers make waves anew in time trials

Tsunami Saipan swimmers in action during their time trials last month held in an undisclosed swimming pool on Saipan. (Contributed Photo)

Olympic-size pool or not Swimming Center Tsunami Saipan members continue to practice and managed to record impressive swims during their time trials last month.

Tsunami Saipan head coach Hiro Kimura made special mention of club mainstays Maria Batallones and Isaiah Aleksenko as swimmers that performed very well in their May time trial.

Batallones swam the 100m breastroke in an unofficial time of 57.26, which Kimura said when converted to a 50m course swimming pool would’ve eclipsed the CNMI girls 11-12 record of 1:25.40 set by Myana Welch in 2002.

The Hopwood Junior High School student is the CNMI’s current record-holder in the 8-and-under girls 50m breastroke and recently marked AAA grade time for her 100 backstroke.

Kimura said last month Aleksenko also swam the 200m butterfly in an unofficial time of 1:30.45. He said the converted time is 2:11.54, which is faster than CNMI national record of 2:14.04 set by Jonathan Sakovich in 1988.

“Isaiah Aleksenko’s time is really amazing. He’s the most outstanding swimmer awardee in the 2019 Palau Micronesian Swimming Championships and at not even 15 years, he unofficially broke the CNMI national record already,” he said.

Kimura said he is really looking forward for Aleksenko to break more CNMI records as his future in swimming is really bright.

Besides Batallones and Aleksenko, the Tsunami Saipan head coach also have kudos to Juhn Tenorio, Jinnosuke Suzuki, and Kean Pajarillaga.

Tenorio updated his best times in the 100m and 200m backstroke as both swims during the time trials were unofficially faster than the CNMI national record in the events.

Suzuki also improved his personal best in the 200m freestyle, which Kimura said is unofficially faster than CNMI boys 15-16 record.

Pajarillaga, for his part, swam his best time in the 200m backstroke, which unofficially is a CNMI boys 13-14 record.

“Aside from the unofficial record-breaking times, everyone achieved AAAA grade time,” said Kimura.

Among the younger Tsunami Saipan swimmers, Kimura said Sari Barman and Maria Guerrero submitted good times during last month’s time trials.

The 10-year-old Barman got AA grade level in two events—the 100m butterfly and 100m backstroke—and A grade in two more events. The 9-year-old Guerrero achieved A grade in her first swim in the 100m breastroke and 100m freestyle. Tsunami Saipan’s next time trials will be held in July.

Kimura also announced that several Tsunami Saipan swimmers were invited to the Guam meet qualifiers after getting BB and over grades. They include Kevin Guerrero, Joseph Zhang, Juhn Tenorio, Jinnosuke Suzuki, Andrew Nunet, Kaito Rechucher, Isaiah Aleksenko, Kean Pajarillaga, Shuman Barman, Kouki Watanabe, Justin Ma, Richard Zhao, Ayumi Obligacion, Asaka Litulumar, Aoi Braxton, Julia Jinang, Shoko Litulumar, Maria Batallones, Nagisa Litulumar, Kaya Braxton, Sari Barman, Maria Guerrero, and Shana Barman.