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7 Tsunami Saipan records certified
Tsunami Saipan’s Nanaka Watanabe races in the 50m breaststroke event in the 2014 Guam Swimming Championships held late last month at the Hagatna Swimming Pool. (Contributed Photo)
Four of the seven marks were courtesy of 8-year-old Nanaka Watanabe, who set new age group records in the girls U8 100m and 200m freestyle, and 50m and 100m breaststroke, and matched the best time in the 200m individual medley. In the 100m freestyle, Watanabe submitted 1:25.97, surpassing the 10-year-old record of Saipan Swim Club’s Jellian Majors, who logged 1:27.18 on May 1, 2004. In the 200m freestyle, the 14-year mark of SSC’s Amanda Johnson (3:21.81/March 31, 2000) fell after Watanabe timed in at 3:10.30.
For the 50m breaststroke, Watanabe cut the 50-second barrier with her 49.27 seconds. On top of this feat, she also eclipsed the oldest record in the age group—the 52.79 seconds Tamiko Winkfield tallied on May 8, 1994. In the 100m breaststroke, the Tsunami Saipan swimmer clocked in at 1:46.56, shaving off about five seconds from her previous mark of 1:51.11 (March 21, 2014). In the 200m IM, Watanabe recorded 3:34.02, the same time Johnson earned during a race on March 30, 2000.
With her record swims, Watanabe clinched the high-point first place medal in the girls U8 division, defeating teammate Ashley Dangol, who managed to reset an age group mark in last month’s competition.
Dangol’s 1:53.71 in the 100m butterfly was more than four seconds faster the previous age group record, which she incidentally held. Dangol timed in at 1:58.06 on March 21, 2014, during the 2014 SSC International Invitational Swim Meet.
Kensuke Kimura also reset an age group mark in butterfly—the 50m—as he finished the sprint race in 27.03, erasing the 27.70 seconds he registered on May 25, 2013.
“Congratulations to our new CNMI record holders. Job well done,” NMISF said in a confirmation email sent to Tsunami Saipan coach Hiro Kimura last weekend.
