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4 swimmers off to Fiji tomorrow
From left, Salofi Welch, Christian Villacrusis, Bobby Winkfield, Victoria Chentsova, and Lennosuke Suzuki pose for a group photo at the Kan Pacific Swimming Pool after their training session in preparation for the XI Oceania Championships. (Contributed Photo)
The CNMI Swim Team will leave for Fiji tomorrow to compete in the XI Oceania Championships.
The squad is composed of swimmers Victoria Chentsova, Salofi Welch, Christian Villacrusis, and Lennosuke Suzuki and coach Bobby Winkfield. They will participate in the June 21 to 26 competition that will be held at the Damodar National Aquatic Centre in Suva.
Chentsova arrived from the mainland last month and has since joined Welch, Villacrusis, and Suzuki in the team’s training sessions at the Kan Pacific Swimming Pool.
The world championships veteran Chentsova will race in eight events in Fiji. She will swim in the 50m, 100m, 200m, 400m, and 800m freestyle and three backstroke events—50m, 100m, and 200m.
Welch is also entered in the 50m, 100m, 200m, and 400m freestyle and will compete, too, in the 50m butterfly, 50m and 100m breaststroke, and 200m individual medley.
Villacrusis will join Welch in the 50m butterfly race and in four other freestyle events (50m, 100m, 200m, and 400m). The Mt. Carmel School student’s three other races are the 200m IM and the 50m and 100m breaststroke.
Suzuki will only participate in the 100m breaststroke, but has the 200m individual medley, 50m and 100m butterfly, and the 50m, 100m, 200m, and 400m freestyle on his list.
Suzuki and company are also competing in the 3K open water race.
The four CNMI swimmers will be up against the representatives of the host country, American Samoa, Australia, Cook Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, Guam, Marshall Islands, New Zealand, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, and Tahiti.
