3 more SSC swimmers take top honors

Kento Akimaru competes in the 100m breaststroke race in last Saturday’s 2016 SSC Pentathlon Meet held at the Kan Pacific Swimming Pool.
(Roselyn B. Monroyo)

Jinnosuke Suzuki duplicated the feat of his brother Lennozuke, while his fellow Saipan Swim Club members Taiga Sato and Kento Akimaru were also victorious in last Saturday’s 2016 SSC Pentathlon Meet held at the Kan Pacific Swimming Pool.

Jinnosuke, whose older brother won in the boys 11 to 12 age group, ruled all five events in the boys 9 to 10 to collect 45 points and beat seven other swimmers for the top honors in his division. Jinnosuke prevailed against teammates Taiyo Akimaru (28 points) and Mark Jainier Chavez (3) and Tsunami Saipan’s Hans Xu (26), Anthony Camacho Deleon Guerrero (24), Isaiah Aleksenko (23), Arman Rechucher (16), and Sean Gil (13).

Besides lording it over in his age group, the younger Suzuki also earned personal best times in all of his five events. In the 50m butterfly, Lennosuke clocked in at 33.59 seconds, nearly two seconds faster than his previous PBT of 35.35 seconds. In the 50m backstroke, the 10-year-old swimmer submitted 39.51 second to surpass his old PBT of 41.24 seconds, while his three other PBTs read at 39.38 seconds in the 50m breaststroke, 33 seconds in the 50m freestyle, and 2:56.74 in the 200m individual medley.

In the boys 13 to 14 age group, Sato got four PBTs and topped three events to get 41 points and defeat Tsunami Saipan’s Mark Maestro and fellow SSC swimmer R.J. Pierce. Maestro gained 32 points, while Pierce logged 24.

Sato had his biggest drop in the 50m butterfly, as he timed in at field-best 1:27.67, more than 30 seconds faster than his old PBT of 1:57.44. In the 100m backstroke, Sato finished only second to Maestro (PBT of 1:21.11), but the former’s 1:25.58 broke his previous mark of 1:32.32. The SSC’s swimmers two other PBTs were in the 100m freestyle (from 1:08.59 to 1:07.89) and 200m IM (from 2:57.95 to 2:57.10). Sato missed a PBT in the 100m breaststroke, as he logged only 1:35.20 (his PBT is 1:33.82) and placed second to Maestro (1:35.13).

Meanwhile, Kento Akimaru won the all-SSC battle for first place in the boys 15 to 16 division. Kento got first place finishes in all five events to bag 45 points and down teammates Christian Villacrusis and David Boyer, who collected 35 and 30 points, respectively.

Kento also went 4-for-5 in PBTs. His first came in the 50m butterfly (from 1:13.38 to 1:06.29), while the other three were made in the 100m freestyle (from 1:00.00 to 59.75), 100m backstroke (1:15.18 to 1:14.60), and 200m IM (from 2:32.97 to 2:28.65). In the 100m breaststroke, he clocked in at 1:18.36, less than two seconds behind his PBT of 1:16.63.

Meanwhile, SSC coach Jacoby Winkfield commended his swimmers performance in last weekend’s meet.

“SSC swimmers had very good swims this weekend. Every swimmer had at least one personal best and many swimmers had several PBTs. The coaching staff is very happy with their performance and the focus they have shown the last month. The pentathlon is a challenging but fun meet. Every swimmer must swim all four individual events as well as a 200 individual medley which can be daunting, but allows all swimmers to try events that they would not normally choose to do,” Winkfield said.