Saipan Swim Club tops Virtual Meet

The Saipan Swim Club once again made the Commonwealth proud—and probably strengthened its case for government support—when it won the September edition of the International Virtual Swimming Meet held last month.

The SSC, under its new coach Mike Stewart, bested six other swim clubs from Australia to win the meet, which is conducted by the Northern Territory Swimming Association in Australia.

SSC topped the competition with a total of 982 points followed by Casuarina Swim Club (479), Nightcliff Swim Club (401), Nhulumbuy Swim Club (332), Darwin Swim Club (293), Palmerston and Rural Swimming Club (205), and RAAF Darwin Amateur Swimming Club (164).

“Welcome back to Saipan Swim Club who has a new coach and many new swimmers taking the Top 3 positions such as Jellian Majors and fellow combatant Ilia Corella. Both swimmers had a ding-dong battle in their pool with only 8 points separating their performances,” read a press release from Northern Territory Swimming Association after the meet.

Majors and fellow 9-year-old swimmer Corella finished first and second not only in their age group but also in the entire meet with 52 and 44 points, respectively.

Amazingly, SSC members occupied seven of the Top 10 places in the meet. Triathlete R.J. Knecht (9 years old) this time made waves in the pool finishing third overall with 43 points. Amanda Johnson (13 years old) and En Hong Pang (11 years old) were tied with two others for fourth place with 36 points, while 2004 World Short Course Championships veteran Nina Mosley (15 years old) and Rezne Wong (13 years old) were both in eighth place with 34 points each.

Other swimmers in the Top 10 were Lauren Burrow and Mitchell Ward of Darwin (fourth place, 36 points), Luke Eggins and Samson Leung of Nightcliff and Andrea Mullins of RAAF (eighth place, 34 points), and Lisa Eddie (13th place, 32 points).

A virtual meet is a swimming competition that has each club holding their meet in their home pool during a designated weekend then transmitting the results to the Northern Territory Swimming Association who then puts all the results together.

In SSC’s case, the virtual meet was held in early September at the Kan Pacific Swimming Pool in Marpi.

The Northern Territory Swimming Association said in its press release that it is now accepting entries for the October edition of the International Virtual Swimming Meet.