Newcomers impress in open water swim

From left, Andrea Ryu, Fiona Yu, Lucy Shin, and Daria Shatskova show off their certificates after taking part in last Saturday’s Saipan Swim Club’s Triple Crown Open Water Swim Series. (Mark Rabago)

The newest tadpoles made the biggest waves in the short course of Saipan Swim Club’s Triple Crown Open Water Swim Series held last Saturday in the waters off the Civic Center beach in Oleai.

In the 20m, Leo Li led another sweep by Swimming Center Tsunami Saipan members by topping the boys division with a time of 1:29.6. He was followed out of the water by Shuro Barman and Jiaheng Zhang with swims of 1:35.1 and 1:40.4, respectively.

Andrea Ryu was even more impressive swimming in the girls division, finishing No. 1 overall with a speedy 1:27.7. Daria Shatskova came in second at 1:31.6, while Fiona Yu completed the Top 3 at 1:34.2.

The trend of Tsunami Saipan swimmers nabbing the Top 3 places and girls beating the boys continued in the 50m with Vivian Chung finishing numero uno by clocking in at 1:28.6, followed by teammates Catalina Frink and Sera Guerrero with times of 1:35.3 and 1:42.2, respectively.

Simon Shindo paced the boys by reaching the shore in 1:53.4 with teammate Xing Cheng Wang coming in second at 1:59.5. Third place went to Seungwoo Lee with a time of 1:59.6.

In the 100m, Tsunami Saipan’s Shana Barman had the boys playing catch up after submitting a time of 2:33.3 as the lone participant in the girls division. Tsunami Saipan’s Yutaro Kitagawa topped the boys with a time of 2:44.4, followed by SSC’s Kanoa Owens and Carl Xavier Licop with swims of 2:50.1 and 3:06.6, respectively.

SSC coach Richard Sikkel came out more than satisfied how the youngest members of his club performed in the open water swim.

“I am especially impressed with our youngest swimmers some of whom have only been swimming a couple of months and they came out and tackled the 50 and 100m.”

He added that Licop and Wigan Puguon appear to have some potential in the sport.

“I can’t name all the swimmers, but keep your eyes on Wigan Puguon and Xavier Licop. I can assure they will make waves in two weeks!” he said.

Puguon finished fourth in the 50m for boys with a time of 1:59.9.

Tsunami Saipan coach Hiro Kimura said more than winning medals in the short course, the newer swimmers that took part in them actually overcame challenges just to compete.

“Many of these participants from Tsunami swam in the ocean first time or did a race for the first time. One child has previously drowned in the ocean and became scared of the water, which is the reason why she started to learn swimming. That child is still scared of the ocean but she successfully overcame that fear and won a medal. Another child started swimming to get rid of obesity, but this time he won a gold medal in the 100m race,” he said.

On swimmers that caught his discriminating eye, Kimura said Vivian Chung, Shana Barman, Gwen Retardo, and Yutaro Kitagawa surely gave good account of themselves.

“Vivian Chung is the hardest worker in her swim class. Never skips practice, swims hard in every practice, and has leadership. It’s a great pleasure to see her win the gold medal and it had a positive effect on the team. I would be happy if Vivian could work hard and compete with her rival Catalina Frink. I also respect Gwen Retardo, who at 6 years old did very well. Shana’s gold medal was not a surprise too because she marked BB time already in a time trial at the pool. Boys gold medalist Yutaro did his best. It’s been only a few months since he came to Tsunami, but I believe he already has Tsunami spirit.”

Kimura said despite not medaling, he has high hopes for Lucy Shin.

“Our hope for the future is 4-year-old Lucy Shin. Lucy started swimming at 3 years old. At the ocean swim Lucy didn’t understand it was competition and that’s why she lost. But in the pool competition she will swim faster than older swimmers. Her swim classmate, Dasha Shatskov, also at 4 years old, won a silver medal.”

Last Saturday’s event was the first part of the Triple Crown Open Water Swim Series that will chose four swimmers (top two men and top two women in the 1,000m qualifier) that will represent the CNMI in the 2021 FINA World Championships in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates this coming December. The second and third parts of the Triple Crown Open Water Swim Series will be held on July 24 and Sept. 25 in the same venue.